“Californian billionaires have poured nearly $40 million in fresh money into the campaign against a proposed wealth tax that will be on the state’s ballot this November,” the Financial Times reports.

New York Post: Billionaire civil war brews between ex-Google bosses as Eric Schmidt rages at mega-rich wealth tax coalition.

Fox News: The only map you need to see as California’s billionaire tax fight heats up.

Wall Street Journal: “What’s remarkable about this election is how spending cuts initially were such a centerpiece of Trump’s agenda (see, RIP DOGE) and now…crickets.”

“Total government debt is barreling toward $40 trillion. The deficit—or gap between revenue and spending—is projected to be $1.887 trillion this year, and then breach $2 trillion next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Borrowing this much money costs a tremendous amount of money. The government is poised to pay $1.1 trillion in interest on its debt this year.”

“President Donald Trump is looking for new policy pledges he can present to voters ahead of the midterm election, including potentially calling on Congress to cut capital gains taxes and create an exemption for certain home sales,” Bloomberg reports.

“Republicans raised the debt limit by $5 trillion last year. Now they are already thinking about how to head off another dive over the fiscal cliff on President Donald Trump’s watch,” Politico reports.

“Independent forecasters predict the U.S. will reach the ‘X-date’ — the ultimate deadline for preventing a U.S. debt default — sometime between next summer and early 2028, just as presidential primaries start kicking into gear.”

“A giant wave of departures is set to hit Capitol Hill’s tax writing committees in the next Congress, jumpstarting the competition to fill some critical gaps in institutional knowledge and ideological representation across two powerful panels,” Politico reports.

“The one-year anniversary of the Republican tax cut law is set to come and go with a whimper amid America’s 250th birthday celebrations, depriving the party of a key opportunity to sell the package as it struggles to coalesce around an economic message ahead of the midterms,” NOTUS reports.

“Touting the benefits of the law has turned out to be a yearlong bugaboo that has been mired by constant issues – the chief one being the lack of consistent messaging from President Donald Trump, who has been particularly attuned to the nation’s semiquincentennial and pet projects across Washington.”

“Americans’ Social Security benefits will have to be cut by roughly a quarter in six years due to depleted funds, according to a June 9 report from the Social Security Board of Trustees,” PBS reports.

“That’s months sooner than the group had estimated in 2025.”

“The Justice Department made an illegal deal with President Donald Trump to immunize him, his family and his businesses from audits or other federal probes related to past filings, a group of tax experts and former Internal Revenue Service officials told a judge,” Bloomberg reports.

“President Donald Trump’s nominee for the No. 2 post at the White House budget office told lawmakers Wednesday that the administration will stop federal cash from flowing to ‘divisive ideologies’ under new grant rules in the works,” Politico reports.

“Hal Duncan, who is seeking Senate confirmation to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said during his confirmation hearing that the White House will ensure federal grants are aligned with Trump’s priorities by changing the way more than $1 trillion is approved each year.”

“Congress’s most important job is deciding how federal money is spent. It hasn’t passed annual funding bills on time since 1997,” the Washington Post reports.

“And the normal act of budget-making has become all but impossible, with partisan gridlock and President Donald Trump’s push for Republicans to go it alone, opening new cracks in an already-battered system.”

“The breakdown in bipartisan budgeting every year threatens public programs that millions of Americans rely on and further endangers the government’s long-term fiscal health.”