Trump administration live updates: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to visit the White House amid trade tensions – NBC News
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Reporting from Washington
A group of Senate Democrats — many of whom won in battleground states in the 2024 election — introduced a bill today that seeks to help small-business owners by expanding the startup tax credit from $5,000 to $50,000, mirroring a popular campaign trail pledge from former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The announcement of the Tax Relief for New Businesses Act, shared first with NBC News, comes from a group of Democrats that includes Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada; Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire; Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin; Ruben Gallego of Arizona; and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.
Democrats are searching for an effective counter-message to the Trump administration on the economy, an issue that ranked most important for voters during last year’s election.
Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker during an interview on “Meet the Press” that small businesses are “not going to need” relief from tariffs. “They’re going to make so much money,” Trump said.
But many small-business owners are pleading for help from the federal government, including several who joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., for a news conference with Democrats in the Capitol yesterday to bring attention to their cause.
The group of Democrats were joined by small-business owners from around the country, including Beth Benike from Minnesota, who said she has three-months’ worth of inventory in China she cannot afford to bring to the U.S.
“I have maybe two months’ worth left in my warehouse in Minnesota, and when that’s gone, I have no more revenue. I cannot pay my employees. I cannot pay my bills. I cannot pay the loans which I have leveraged my house against so we could lose our house,” Benike said. “So, I am asking, begging, for support from both sides of both parties, to support our small businesses and get rid of these tariffs on U.S.-owned small businesses.”
In a statement, Rosen said the legislation is important “[e]specially now, at a time of increased economic hardship and uncertainty.”
Her bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the limitations for deductible new business expenses. Without Republican buy-in, it will likely go nowhere in the GOP-controlled Senate and House.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have said they won’t support any effort to rebuke the administration’s economic policies.
“I think his policy decisions are the right ones. And I think over time that will bear fruit,” Thune told reporters during a news conference last week.
Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, called the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice an “act of domestic terrorism.”
“We must all stand united against political violence of any kind and condemn this violent attack as what it really was, an act of domestic terrorism,” Jackson said.
His comments came during a press conference where Republicans criticized the FBI’s conclusion that the shooter was trying to kill himself by being shot by police.
In a May 2021 FBI and DHS report titled “Strategic Intelligence Assessment and Data on Domestic Terrorism” presented to Congress, the baseball practice shooting is categorized as an “FBI-Designated Significant Domestic Terrorism Incident,” specifically in the category of domestic violent extremism.
Top Republicans on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees are accusing the FBI of jumping to conclusions in its investigation over the motivations of the man who shot lawmakers during a 2017 congressional baseball practice.
The Republicans argued that the FBI concluded before reviewing all evidence that the shooter was motivated to kill himself by forcing police to shoot him.
Reps. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Ronny Jackson of Texas will release a report arguing that the FBI’s “suicide by cop” conclusion “is inconsistent with the facts and evidence,” an Intelligence Committee aide told NBC News.
“The FBI case file makes clear this case was a premeditated assassination attempt on Republican congressmen by a radical, left-wing political extremist, who was seeking to affect the conduct of our government,” one of the key points from the report says.
The shooter shot three people at the practice, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and police then killed the gunman.
NBC News has reached out to the FBI for comment on the report.
The Trump administration has been exploring ways to increase the country’s birth rate, with the president himself saying he wouldn’t mind being known as the “fertilization president.”
But congressional Democrats and activists say Republicans have long overlooked the growing cost of having and raising children and ignore policy solutions that are readily available.
“If you want to encourage families to have children and be serious about it, then you would work to lower costs, build economic security for families,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, an 18-term Democrat from Connecticut and a leading proponent of a federal paid family leave program, told NBC News.
The fertility rate in the United States has declined overall since 2007, hitting a historic low in 2023 before plateauing the following year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But birth rates are declining globally, not just in the U.S.
Read the full story here.
Angus King III, an energy executive and a son of independent Sen. Angus King Jr. of Maine, will run for governor as a Democrat, he announced today.
King wants to follow in the footsteps of his father, who served two terms as governor from 1995 to 2003. And he’s vying to replace term-limited Gov. Janet Mills, the longtime Maine Democrat who has made national news in recent months tangling with Trump’s administration over policies for transgender athletes.
In an interview with NBC News ahead of his announcement, King emphasized that, during his career in the private sector, he’s been “building things that solve problems and help people.”
“If you were ever going to do it, now is the time. Right now, people are struggling, are scared. We just have a host of challenges that make life really hard,” King said of leaving private life, where he’s worked on issues like renewable energy and affordable housing, to seek public office.
Read the full story here.
Trump is scheduled to meet today with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who recently had his tenure as head of state extended last week with the Liberal Party’s victory in a nationwide election.
It will be the first time Carney and Trump have a bilateral meeting.
The meeting as trade tensions persist between the two countries, with Carney vowing to fight back against Trump’s tariffs.
Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., announced this morning that she’s launching a bid to succeed Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who recently announced he will retire when his term ends in early 2027.
Kelly is the second person to announce their candidacy. Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has said she would run for the position, earning the endorsement of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Kelly’s announcement is a sign that the backing by Pritzker, a billionaire, is not staving off competition.
“Every day, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Congressional Republicans are targeting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and passing policies that raise costs for Illinois families, small businesses, and farmers,” Kelly said in a statement. “This moment requires proven leaders who have the experience to take on the toughest battles. I’ve never backed down — not from gun lobbyists, not from MAGA extremists, and certainly not from a fight for what’s right.”
A former mental health counselor who took office in a 2013 special election, Kelly has also served as chair of the Illinois Democratic Party.
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