Hegseth announces USNS Harvey Milk is being renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson
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(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday the USNS Harvey Milk is being renamed the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, after he ordered the Navy to strike the name of the pioneering gay rights activist from the ship.
Hegseth made the announcement in a video posted to X.
“We are taking the politics out of ship naming,” Hegseth said. “We’re not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration. Instead, we’re renaming the ship after a United States Navy Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as it should be.”
Peterson, Hegseth said, was a chief watertender who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during an attack on the USS Neosho by Japanese bombers during the Battle of Coral Sea in 1942.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is once again vowing to protect Social Security if congressional Republicans seek another reconciliation bill.
Asked earlier this week what he would prioritize should Republicans in Congress seek a reconciliation bill, a cost-cutting tactic that would bypass the usual Senate filibuster, Trump said he would focus efforts on cutting unnecessary things, and “save” others, such as Social Security.
“One thing I said and I gave my word — we’re not going to hurt anybody on Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office. Congress is prohibited from touching Social Security’s benefit structure or revenue mechanisms in a reconciliation bill.
Trump went on to say “we’re doing great on Social Security” and that “we’re going to protect it.”
Protecting Social Security is a common refrain for Trump, who promised to protect the federal program on the campaign trail and has reiterated that message through his second term as president — even as his administration has sought cuts for other federal programs and agencies.
Trump has touted “no tax” on Social Security with the passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act last month. While the bill doesn’t end Social Security taxes, it will provide many older Americans who qualify for the program with a tax break, according to a Politifact report.
Trump’s megabill gives an additional tax deduction of up to $6,000 for Americans 65 and older. The tax deduction is temporary and is in effect until 2028.
While the move that could mean more income for seniors, some critics say it will have little effect on the social insurance.
Laurence Kotlikof, a professor of economics at Boston University, said changes to the tax deductibles “make it look like Trump had made good on his promise, but there’s no connection of this at all to the taxation of Social Security benefits.” Kotlikof explained that if a person is low income and their tax rate is low to begin with, they will not get much of a tax break from the deductible.
Democrats have criticized the GOP-passed megabill as benefiting the rich while hurting low-income people.
The Trump administration celebrated the program’s 90th anniversary earlier this month with the Social Security Administration’s leader saying he is looking for ways to help the program evolve to help future generations, too.
Frank Bisignano, the administrator of the Social Security Administration, earlier this month shared plans to help Social Security become a “digital-first agency.” Bisignano said the administration had a “bold goal” for 200 million Americans to have a digital SSA account by the end of next year — making the program predominantly digital.
While Trump has expressed confidence in the future of the program, projections state that the program’s trust fund will run out in less than a decade.
The Social Security trust fund, which pays retirement and survivor benefits, is set to run out in 2033, resulting in a 23% reduction in payable benefits at that time, according to the 2025 Trustees Report — a Social Security Administration report that describes the projected fiscal outlook for both Medicaid and Social Security programs and their trust funds. The OASI trust fund will be able to pay 100% of total benefits until 2033. At that time, the reserves will be depleted and will be sufficient to only pay 77% of total benefits, according to the 2025 Trustee Report.
The combined trust funds that Social Security uses to pay retirees, survivors and those with disabilities are set to run out by 2034 — a year earlier than what was last projected in the 2024 report, according to the Trustees Report. Once the combined funds are depleted, the funds would only be able to pay 81% of benefits, according to the report.
The OASI trust fund that is projected to run out in 2033 was valued at $2.538 trillion at the end of 2024, according to the 2025 OASDI Trustees Report. The combined trust funds that fund social security are worth in total $2.7 trillion as of the end of 2024, according to trust fund data on the Social Security Administration website.
In a written statement to ABC News, the Social Security Administration touted the “historic” tax relief to seniors due to the passing of the Trump’s megabill and maintained that it will continue to work with Congress to “protect and strengthen” the program.
(WASHINGTON) — The turmoil in Congress over the Jeffrey Epstein probe isn’t going away anytime soon after House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday he is ending the legislative session early before the summer break.
Johnson vented to reporters — even pounding the podium — as he expressed incredulity that the House was sucked into the saga, leading Republicans to abandon legislative business this week and begin their five-week summer recess a day early.
“There’s no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they’re already doing. And so this is for political games,” Johnson said at the House GOP’s news conference on Tuesday.
The move came after GOP-led Rules Committee — which was working on advancing a slate of unrelated bills — came to a halt Monday evening because Democrats announced their plan to force a committee vote on bipartisan legislation that would call for the release of the Epstein files.
Republicans on the panel decided to recess the meeting with lawmakers saying there were no plans to reconvene at all. Some Republicans, such as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie slammed the decision to table the meeting and criticized Johnson.
“People have wanted these files for years. The president’s staff, administration, his own children, his vice president have promised that these files would come out, and now we’re being told it’s a hoax. It just doesn’t wash,” Massie told ABC News Tuesday.
Massie said he still intends to try to work with Democrats and a handful of Republicans to force a vote on legislation to release Epstein-related files later this fall.
“You don’t lose your base over one single thing, but [Trump’s] eroding his base. And more importantly, if we don’t take the right side of this issue, it’s going to cost us votes in the midterms,” Massie said.
Johnson laid blame on the Democrats for creating the controversy, echoing statements made by President Donald Trump over the last two weeks, however, he appeared patricularly agitated by Massie’s criticism.
“Some people seem to enjoy trying to inflict political pain on their own teammates. I’m not going to address anybody individually, but I’ll tell you that some here are much more frustrating than others. It’s small, tiny handful, but one in particular is giving me lots of consternation,” he said. “I don’t understand Thomas Massie’s motivation. I really don’t. I don’t know how his mind works.”
Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina said Monday he and the other Republicans on the committee did not want to vote on Democrats’ Epstein amendments, calling the effort “grandstanding.”
House Republicans will not hold votes this week on several measures, including an immigration bill and a clean water bill, because Democrats on the panel continue to attempt to force tough votes over releasing the Epstein files.
With the House floor paralyzed, House GOP leaders announced on Tuesday that the chamber is leaving for a five-week district work period a day earlier than expected. Republicans scrapped votes planned for Thursday with final votes now slated for Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer plans to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell “as expeditiously as possible,” according to a committee spokeswoman.
“Since Ms. Maxwell is in federal prison, the Committee will work with the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons to identify a date when Committee can depose her,” the spokeswoman said in a statement Tuesday.
When asked about the Justice Department’s announcement that they would seek an interview with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted associate, Trump said he didn’t know anything about it, but “sounds appropriate.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham said it’s “too early to tell” if Iran has given up its nuclear ambitions following U.S. strikes against key nuclear facilities in the country, but the Trump ally said he believes it’s still the regime’s “desire” to make a nuclear weapon.
On Friday, President Donald Trump seemed to dismiss the potential for Iran to resume its enrichment program, telling reporters, “The last thing they’re thinking about right now is enriched uranium.”
Pressed by “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl about those comments and whether Iran has given up its “ambitions to be a nuclear power,” Graham said, “Too early to tell. I do agree that the three sites were obliterated.”
But, the South Carolina Republican argued that while Iran is “done with that enrichment program,” the regime is “not done wanting to destroy Israel or trying to come after us.”
“Operation Midnight Hammer was a tremendous military success. It set the program back, I think, a couple years,” Graham said. “But the question for the world, does the regime still desire to make a nuclear weapon? The answer is yes. Do they still desire to destroy Israel and come after us? The answer is yes. Until that changes, we’ve got to keep our — we’re in trouble.”
Trump has suggested there may be a meeting with the Iranians at some point soon. Graham said he believes Iran must publicly affirm Israel’s sovereignty before any such meeting should occur.
“Here’s the requirement to sit down and talk: They have to say, for the first time, the Iranian regime, ‘We recognize Israel’s right to exist. We don’t like the state, we don’t like what they do, but we recognize Israel has the right to exist as a people,'” Graham said. “If they can’t say that, you’re never going to get a deal worth a damn. So before you sit down with the Iranians, make them say publicly for the first time, ‘Israel has a right to exist,’ and they can’t say that, that tells you all you need to know about who you’re dealing with.”
Here are more highlights from Graham’s interview:
Graham says Trump told him “it’s time to move” on Russia sanctions bill
Graham: So what does this bill do? If you’re buying products from Russia and you’re not helping Ukraine, then there’s a 500% tariff on your products coming to the United States. India and China buy 70% of Putin’s oil. They keep his war machine going. My bill has 84 co-sponsors. It would allow the President to put tariffs on China and India and other countries, to get them — stop them from supporting Putin’s war machine, to get him to the table for the first time yesterday, the President told me —
Karl: You were playing golf with him.
Graham: Yeah, I was playing golf with him. He says, ‘It’s time to move, move your bill.’ ‘There’s a waiver in the bill, Mr. President, you’re in charge of whether or not it’s to be implemented.’ But we’re going to give President Trump a tool in the toolbox he doesn’t have today. After the July break, we’re going to pass a bill that would allow the president —
Karl: And he’s going to sign it?
Graham: Yeah, I think we’re in good shape, but he has a waiver. It’s up to him how to impose it, but we’re trying to get Putin to the table.
On the Supreme Court decision on injunctions: “Judge-shopping needs to stop.”
Graham: So the ruling was, a single judge cannot stop policy for the entire country — that’s beyond the mandate of a federal district court judge. You still have judicial review, but it has to go up the chain. A single judge can’t stop a program for the entire country. And that’s a good thing, because people were going judge shopping. The right would go judge —
Karl: I mean, you were going judge-shopping back in the day.
Graham: Everybody goes judge-shopping!
Karl: I’m old enough to remember when you were all in favor of the injunction against DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) under Obama.
Graham: Totally! I mean — and I’m here to say, judge-shopping needs to stop. We need to have a system where if you’re going to enjoin policy for the nation, it’s done at a higher level than a single judge for the left or the right.
On Trump attacking fellow Republican Sen. Thom Tillis Karl: The president went on a tirade against Tillis last night, said he’s going to meet with primary challengers, said that he’s grandstanding on all of this. What do you make of that? Is it grandstanding?
Graham: I’ve been on the receiving end of that (laughs).
Karl: Yes, you have.
Graham: He runs hard, and he can forgive. We’re trying to do hard things that should be done and have to be done. We’re $37 trillion in debt. Medicaid has grown 50% in five years. It’s about to take over Medicare. What we’ve done [in this bill] is limited the growth to 6% for two years, 4% after that, so Medicaid is not cut.
