On July 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) into law. Under OBBB, tax reductions worth trillions that were scheduled to expire in 2025 will now remain in place permanently. It also adds new breaks, including tax-free overtime pay and an extra deduction for seniors. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the measure is expected to raise federal deficits by $3.4 trillion over the next decade.
This is expected to provide direct financial relief to millions of Americans who are part of the service industry.
This bill is popular among workers, especially those who work in hospitality, but just like the overtime deduction, it isn’t technically a true tax cut but a targeted deduction that favors some groups over others.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who introduced the bill along with Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada, said, “This is about fairness. These workers are putting in long hours and living paycheck to paycheck. They deserve to keep more of what they earn.”
Senator Rosen emphasized that service workers in tourism-heavy economies like Nevada are the “backbone of the economy,” and that the bill offers them “the respect and support they deserve.”
The No Tax on Tips Act proposes amending the federal tax code to make tip income exempt from federal income taxes. Under current law, tipped workers must report their tips as income, and employers are required to withhold taxes. If the bill becomes law then tips from customers would still need to be reported but they would no longer be taxed at the federal level. The change applied to tips only and excludes wages and employer-paid bonuses.
The deduction excludes automatic service fees, such as mandatory 20% tips for large parties. It also doesn’t apply to anyone in Specified Service Trades or Businesses (SSTBs), which covers professions like law and finance where skill is the main asset.
According to supporters of the bill, it eases burdens on small businesses and increases take-home pay for workers.
Please SHARE this article with your family and friends on Facebook.
First Democrat Casualty Of Epstein Fallout Stepping Down
Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard University, announced that he will scale back his public commitments, according to the university’s student newspaper. The announcement comes after the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released seven years of correspondence between Summers, a longtime figure in and supporter of the Democratic Party, and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In a statement released Monday to The Harvard Crimson, Summers said it was part of an effort “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”
The documents show that the two men exchanged messages as late as July 5, 2019 — one day before Epstein was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges, but years after he was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute.
In the hundreds of messages made public, Summers appeared to express trust in Epstein and confided in him about his efforts to pursue a romantic relationship with a woman he referred to as a mentee, Fox News reported.
One message from November 2018 shows Epstein describing himself as Summers’ “wing man,” and the correspondence indicates he continued advising Summers on the matter for several months.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” Summers wrote in his statement to The Crimson.
“I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” he added.
Summers currently holds several professional roles, including serving as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress – a left-wing think tank – as well as a paid columnist for Bloomberg News, and a member of the board at OpenAI.
He also remains a University Professor at Harvard and serves as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, responsibilities he will continue to oversee, his spokesman said, according to the outlet.
In a statement Monday, Summers said, “While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, is facing mounting backlash after publishing a trove of private prison emails written by convicted human trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
Attorney Leah Saffian, who represents Maxwell, blasted Raskin’s actions as “a gross abuse of power” after workers at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas were fired for leaking the correspondence. The emails were reportedly obtained without authorization and illegally passed to Raskin’s office before being released publicly.
“The congressman is a ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, an attorney and law professor,” Saffian said Friday. “He must be aware that his conduct undermines the whole legal process. His action should be a matter for professional disciplinary action.”
Federal Bureau of Prisons officials confirmed the termination of multiple employees involved in the unauthorized access. Saffian said their decision to share the messages — and Raskin’s subsequent publication of them — amounted to “a breach of constitutional protections, including the First, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments afforded to all prisoners.”
The emails revealed Maxwell’s uncharacteristic optimism about her stay at the Bryan facility, describing a markedly different environment than the Florida prison where she was previously held.
“The food is legions better, the place is clean, the staff responsive and polite,” Maxwell wrote in one message. “I have not seen a single fight, drug deal, passed-out person or naked inmate running around. I am much, much happier here and more importantly, safe.”
In another note, she mocked her old surroundings: “The kitchen looks clean too — no possums falling from the ceiling to fry on ovens and mingle with the food being served.”
Saffian said the disclosure was “just the latest example of Ms. Maxwell’s constitutional and human rights being ridden roughshod over,” adding that the Justice Department’s inspector general previously documented deplorable conditions at the Tallahassee facility where Maxwell had been housed.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, will have to deal with a political test this fall when Congress meets again. Lawmakers will be debating a new funding bill to keep the government open.
With President Donald Trump in his second term, Democratic voters across the country are getting more and more upset with what they see as Congress’s weak response to his plan. Democrats in Congress don’t have a majority in either the House or the Senate, so they can’t stop his plans from going through. However, people have asked them to take stronger action.
In March, Schumer got a lot of negative feedback from Democrats when he didn’t block a stopgap bill led by Republicans that was meant to keep the government open. Schumer and eight other Democrats voted for a motion to allow discussion on the bill, but in the end, they voted against passing it. Democratic critics say that vote, on the other hand, let it get past the filibuster and become law.
They have until October 1 to pass a set of bills that will pay the government until the end of fiscal year (FY) 2026. Republicans have narrow majorities in both houses, with a 219-212 edge in the House and a 53-47 edge in the Senate.
This is a problem for both parties. For example, Republican leaders will have to find a way to please both moderates in split districts and conservatives who support the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement.
However, Democrats like Schumer will be put to the test as they try to please Democratic voters while also working with Republicans to get some changes made to the bills.
IIn March, Democrats from all factions were frustrated that Schumer and other Democrats were advancing the spending bill despite Republicans not taking any actions to secure his support, which critics claimed would result in cuts to important programs. Democrats have asked Schumer to run for office again or step down as party leader, but he has refused to do either.
Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also a New York Democrat, sent a letter to GOP leadership urging a meeting to “discuss the need to avert a painful, unnecessary lapse in government funding and to address the healthcare crisis Republicans have triggered in America.”
This comes as Democrats are in serious trouble.
The Democratic Party is grappling with a stunning collapse in voter registrations as Republicans surge nationwide, fueled by President Trump’s expanding political coalition.
According to a New York Times analysis of registration data from L2, a nonpartisan firm that tracks voter rolls, more new voters registered as Republicans than Democrats for the first time since 2018.
The shift comes after the 2024 election, when Trump expanded his reach among men, younger voters, and Latinos, reshaping traditional assumptions about partisan loyalties.
The data paints a sobering picture for Democrats. “Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections — and often by a lot,” the Times report said.
The net effect was a 4.5 million-voter swing: Democrats shed about 2.1 million registrants, while Republicans gained 2.4 million.
Even in states long considered reliably Democratic, the erosion has been evident. California, one of the largest blue states where voters declare party affiliation, saw significant Democratic losses.
By contrast, many Republican-led states such as Texas do not track partisan registration, meaning the overall national picture may underestimate GOP strength.
Still, the available numbers show a dramatic narrowing of the Democratic advantage. In the 30 states and Washington, D.C., that require voters to register by party, Democrats’ 11-point lead over Republicans in 2020 fell to just over six points in 2024.
Michael Pruser, director of data science for Decision Desk HQ, told the Times the trend has been relentless. “I don’t want to say, ‘The death cycle of the Democratic Party,’ but there seems to be no end to this,” Pruser said. “There is no silver lining or cavalry coming across the hill. This is month after month, year after year.”
The Republican gains have been particularly notable in swing states where partisan registration data is available.