• “Big, beautiful bill” passes Budget Committee: It appeared on Friday that Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act — the budget bill Republicans have been wrangling over for weeks — was destined for the dustbin after four House Budget Committee Republicans voted against advancing it. The bill, which includes extending Trump’s first-term tax cuts, has been criticized by fiscal conservatives demanding significant cuts to federal spending in light of the ballooning national debt. On Sunday evening, though, the Budget Committee held another vote, and this time it passed on a 17-16 party-line vote. Speaker Mike Johnson called it “a big win” while acknowledging “there will be more details to iron out.” An initial holdout, Texas Rep. Chip Roy, changed his vote, citing the revamped measure to “move Medicaid work requirements forward.” However, he warned, “We can and must do better before we pass the final product.”

• Moody’s downgrades the U.S.: Moody’s Ratings was the last remaining Aaa credit rating the U.S. had after S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings downgraded America in 2011 and 2023, respectively. On Friday, Moody’s fell in line and reduced the U.S. from Aaa to Aa1, the second-highest possible rating. Moody’s explained that its adjustment “reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt” and that it doesn’t expect major reductions in the deficit to result from the fiscal policies the current administration is proposing. With the reduction, Moody’s now only ranks 11 countries at its highest rating. A spokesman for the White House criticized Moody’s timing, saying if it had any credibility, it would have acted under the Biden presidency.

• Reparations! The Civil War ended 160 years ago, and that same year, the 13th Amendment ended slavery. Here we are 16 decades later, and the descendants of slaves are demanding money from the great-great-great-grandchildren of people who statistically were not slave owners. Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) took to the stage to rant, “Black folks are owed more than thoughts and prayers. We’re owed repair.” Is Lee prepared to DNA test tens of millions of Americans to determine if they’re descended from slaves or slave owners? What about those descended from both groups? Not the Bee’s answer to Rep. Lee is the best: “Never going to happen.”

• Trump vs. Walmart: No matter how you slice it, tariffs inevitably raise the price of goods because tariffs are taxes. Recognizing this reality, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned on Friday, “We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible,” but “the higher tariffs will result in higher prices.” Donald Trump responded on Truth Social: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!” Ironically, just last year, Trump called Kamala Harris’s price control plan “dangerous,” adding, “This is Communist; this is Marxist; this is fascist.” Politically speaking, Trump doesn’t want any price increases tied to his tariffs, but economically speaking, it’s unavoidable.

• The American steel industry wants Trump to keep tariffs in place: President Trump’s tariffs have been met with many different reactions, but Kevin Dempsey, president of the American Iron and Steel Institute, may have the most unusual reaction. Dempsey argues that the steel tariffs are doing great things for American steel and urges the administration to keep the pedal to the metal. “We do expect it to be positive and helpful to domestic steel,” Dempsey said, and the industry is already up 6% since January 20. Trump’s 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports in March was one of his first tariff moves in his second term and has been constant despite the back-and-forth nature of the other tariffs. The recent moves to de-escalate the budding trade war with China did not affect the steel tariffs.

• Verizon dumps DEI: The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion racket was dealt another blow Friday, this time at the nation’s second-largest telecom company, Verizon Wireless. In response to a February letter from FCC Chairman Brenden Carr, Verizon announced that it will end all DEI policies and programs “effective immediately.” There has been some fear that many companies and universities have kicked DEI out only to let it in through the back door under a new name. Not so with Verizon, which promises to end its policies “in substance,” not “just in name.” The FCC letter warned Verizon regarding a potential $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications to “get busy” ending “invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” DEI may not be dead yet, but it’s on life support and the grave is being dug.

• Christian camp sues over Colorado’s trans mandate: A 77-year-old Christian camp in Colorado filed a lawsuit against the state over recent Code of Colorado Regulations governing summer camps. The new rules require all summer camps to adhere to the state’s gender identity rules, which mandate compliance with a person’s declared gender identity, not their biological sex. Camp IdRaHaJe (short for “I’d Rather Have Jesus”) noted that the state’s new rules leave it in an untenable situation of having to either reject its own Christian beliefs and practices or hold to its beliefs and run afoul of the law. Representing the camp is the Alliance Defending Freedom, which says Colorado’s refusal to provide a religious exemption runs afoul of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. ADF Legal Counsel Andrea Dill stated, “The government has no place telling religious summer camps that it’s ‘lights out’ for upholding their religious beliefs about human sexuality.”

• IVF clinic bomber was “pro-mortalist”: Over the weekend, an IVF clinic in Palm Springs, California, was targeted by an apparently crazed individual who detonated a suicide car bomb. FBI investigators combing through the 25-year-old perpetrator’s social media and writings have determined that the motive was anti-natalism. This is the crackpot view that no one should be born without their own prior consent. In reality, anti-natalism is an anti-human death cult. However, due to the perpetrator’s target being an IVF clinic, Vanity Fair asserted that the bombing “comes as access to IVF has come under threat from some Republicans across the country — and the attack could deepen concerns for people attempting to start their families through in vitro services.” Republicans’ concern is about protecting life, hence their efforts to limit and end abortion, the largest killer of humanity in the country.

Headlines

• Prosecutor’s audio shows Biden’s memory lapses (Axios)

• Two dead after Mexican navy ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge (Daily Wire)

• Trump to call Putin in a bid to end Russia’s war with Ukraine (Fox News)

• Iran foreign minister taunts U.S.: Deal or no deal, we will enrich uranium (Daily Wire)

• FBI bosses insist Jeffrey Epstein killed himself after reviewing his file (Fox News)

• Controversy rages as brain-dead woman kept alive to save unborn child (Daily Wire)

• UK, Europe strike post-Brexit deal on defense, trade issues (Fox News)

• Humor: Democrats propose building wall to keep white immigrants out (Babylon Bee)

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