Lindsey Graham, the embarrassment that occupies space in the Senate. Leigh Kimmins (DAILY BEAST) reports:
"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
A top Iranian official warned on Tuesday of an escalation in the Strait of Hormuz and accused the United States of violating the fragile cease-fire, a day after the U.S. Navy began an initiative to escort commercial ships through the strait, a vital oil shipping waterway.
As the truce appeared to falter, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator in the stumbling peace negotiations, said in a social media post that “a new equation” was emerging in the waterway. He said that American actions had endangered shipping through the strait, which Iran has effectively blockaded since the war began in late February.
“We know well that the continuation of the current situation is unbearable for the United States, while we have not even started yet,” Mr. Ghalibaf said.
The U.S. Navy began escorting commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. The U.S. Central Command said that two commercial ships operating under the American flag had passed through the waterway. Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, said that one of its vessels, a carrier transporting vehicles that was flying the U.S. maritime flag, had passed through the strait.
But reports of attacks from Iran in and around the Persian Gulf quickly tested the American actions and the Pakistani-brokered cease-fire that paused the war last month.
Facing pressure to address the economic fallout of his war in Iran, President Trump on Monday sought to portray his policy wins for small businesses as evidence that he was succeeding in building up the economy.
Speaking to business leaders from across the country at an event in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Trump declared that slashing taxes and regulations had yielded “record business,” and that the economy was “roaring.” The White House described the Small Business Week event as highlighting “the extraordinary revival of Main Street under his America First agenda.”
But looming over it all was a war abroad that Mr. Trump had begun, and whose economic impact is compounding cost-of-living concerns among Americans, many of whom increasingly say their economic reality has worsened under his tenure.
Mr. Trump’s comments on Monday created a sharp contrast with the economic reality outside Washington, as rising energy prices hammer families and businesses alike.
The Pentagon announced last week that it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, but Trump told reporters on Saturday that “we’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”
He offered no reason for the move, which blindsided NATO, but his decision came amid an escalating dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the U.S-Israeli war on Iran, and Trump’s anger that European allies have been reluctant to get involved in the conflict in the Middle East.
Sam Levine (GUARDIAN) reports:
Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw more US troops from Germany after stunning European leaders and some senior members of his own party by last week announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany.
The move left 30,000 US troops still in the country, according to CNN. But Trump threatened on Saturday that more cuts were coming. “We are going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters on Saturday.
[. . .]
The Republicans who chair the armed services committees in Congress, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, released a joint statement on Saturday saying they were “very concerned” by the possibility of reducing troops in Germany.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress are speaking out on the move. For example, Ashleigh Fields (THE HILL) adds:
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) on Sunday criticized the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany following a public spat with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Last week, the German chancellor said that Washington was being “humiliated” by Iran amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in remarks condemned by President Trump.
Crow said, “It appears as though this decision was made because Donald Trump was upset by a comment made by the German chancellor, like he is getting emotional and angry about this, and he’s making really consequential troop decision — troop movement decisions based upon being upset by the comments of a foreign leader, which is no way to run a foreign policy,” during an appearance on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.”
“So, we’re looking into it, and we’re going to make sure that any movements, if they do occur, are actually in our interests,” the House Democrat added.
The Fair Trusts for Fiscal Responsibility Act cracks down on tax avoidance and ensures that millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share
A conservative estimate projects Murray’s bill would generate $675 billion over ten years
Senator Murray: “The revenue from this bill alone could extend the ACA tax credits AND provide high quality child care for every working family in America.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, introduced the Fair Trusts for Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2026 to close tax loopholes used by the wealthiest Americans to avoid paying taxes through complicated trust arrangements. The legislation is co-led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee.
“Firefighters and nurses don’t get to hide their money in a trust fund and skip out on paying their taxes—billionaires shouldn’t get to either,” said Senator Murray. “The very wealthiest Americans hide their fortunes in a trust for generations and call it tax planning—that is absurd and those are dollars that should be going to our schools, infrastructure, and health care. In America, if you earn a paycheck, you are paying taxes—it’s time to close the loophole that lets individuals with armies of lawyers stash away billions without paying taxes. This Republican Congress has bent over backwards to rig the system for billionaires. I am simply proposing that the ultra-wealthy—people with more than $50 million sitting in a trust—finally pay what they owe and contribute their fair share back to the country that made their success possible. I’ll bet that most Americans would prefer we fund child care and pre-k for every working family in this country rather than let billionaires get a free ride on their taxes. The revenue from this bill alone could extend the ACA tax credits AND provide high quality child care for every working family in America. If you don’t have more than $50 million laying around in a trust, you don’t have to worry about this bill resulting in anything other than better funded roads and public schools.”
“We cannot allow there to be ultra-wealthy dynasties in this country hoarding all the money and power for generations on end, and we cannot have a tax system that encourages it,” said Senator Wyden. “Our budgets suffer and economic opportunity bleeds away when the ultra-wealthy dodge taxes in America, so this bill is a smart way of ensuring the highest earners are paying a fair share just like nearly everybody else.”
Most Americans will not receive an inheritance, and for those that do, only those with assets exceeding $30 million—for a married couple—are required to contribute a portion through taxes, and even then, only on amounts over that substantial exemption. Fewer than 0.1% of Americans pay estate tax at all. These funds provide revenue that can be used for essential investments in our country, like schools or critical infrastructure. Yet many of the very wealthiest Americans use special trusts to delay, minimize, and avoid paying taxes. Experts estimate that hundreds of billions of dollars and potentially trillions of dollars are held in generation-skipping transfer tax exempt trusts that are not subject to the rule against perpetuities.
The Fair Trusts for Fiscal Responsibility Act addresses tax avoidance head on by applying a 1 percent rate on trust assets between $50 million and $100 million, 1.5 percent between $100 million and $250 million, 2 percent between $250 million and $1 billion, and 3 percent on assets above $1 billion. To ensure fairness, the bill provides full refundability of the withholding against estate tax liability so that only those actively avoiding transfer taxes face increased burdens, while also capping total withholding so it does not exceed estate tax owed. The legislation further strengthens compliance through new reporting requirements and penalties for noncompliance, while exempting charitable trusts, ERISA-qualified employee benefit trusts, and other trusts not typically used in estate planning.
A conservative estimate of a similar proposal indicates that Murray’s legislation would raise approximately $675 billion over ten years, noting, “even based on our low-end estimate of $4.5 trillion in GST-exempt trusts today, if those trusts face an average annual tax of 1.5% under the withholding tax, that is approximately $675 billion over ten years.” This could fund free school lunch for every kid in America, child care for every working family, and the replacement of every lead pipe in America; alternatively, the revenue could fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for decades, or extend the enhanced premium ACA tax credits nearly twice over.
In addition to Senators Murray and Wyden, the bill is also co-sponsored by Senators Van Hollen, Booker, and Alsobrooks.
The legislation is endorsed by Americans for Tax Fairness, Patriotic Millionaires, Public Citizen, Groundwork, Economic Security Project Action, NETWORK Lobby, National Women’s Law Center, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and United for a Fair Economy.
“A tax system that favors the rich makes America a poorer
country for everyone, including the rich themselves. Working Americans
can’t wait until later to pay taxes,” said Bob Lord,Senior Vice President for Tax Policy, Patriotic Millionaires.
“Taxes are withheld from every one of their paychecks. So when
ultra-rich Americans use trusts to delay paying estate tax for 50 years
on billion-dollar fortunes left for their grandchildren, average
Americans feel cheated. Sen. Murray’s Fair Trusts for Fiscal
Responsibility Act would end this outrageous preferential treatment and
restore a feeling of fairness to our tax system. Ultra-rich
families wouldn’t make more tax payments. They’d just make more timely
tax payments, like the rest of America does.”
“ATF applauds
Senator Murray for introducing the Fair Trusts for Fiscal Responsibility
Act,” said David Kass, Executive Director of Americans for Tax
Fairness.
“For decades, the wealthy have been able to hoard massive amounts of
wealth and pass it down to future generations through key loopholes. The
existing estate-tax exemption is so high ($30M for married couples)
that only the wealthiest 0.1% of estates owe any tax. Yet wealthy
families can further reduce what they pay through strategies like GRATs
and dynasty trusts, leading to losses in revenue for public investments
in education, healthcare, and more. This legislation would make key
reforms to curb these abuses and rein in dynastic wealth in our
country.”
Senator Murray is fighting for tax fairness and closing loopholes on Wall Street. Last month, at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Social Security, Senator Murray slammed the Trump administration for gutting the Social Security Administration (SSA) and questioned witnesses on the fact that the very wealthiest Americans have the smallest effective payroll tax rate. Murray made clear that when it comes to addressing SSA solvency, there is no reason for working people to face drastic benefit cuts when the very wealthiest could simply pay their fair share.
In 2025, Senator Murray helped introduce the Carried Interest Fairness Act to eliminate a tax loophole that benefits wealthy money managers on Wall Street. The current carried interest loophole allows investment managers to often pay almost half the tax rate compared to most other Washington workers. Over the course of her career, Murray has long championed a fair tax system—rejecting Republican efforts to cut benefits for working people and repeatedly pushing for reforms to ensure the very wealthiest Americans simply pay their fair share. Murray has always recognized that the national debt and deficits pose real challenges; however, it has been her longstanding belief that America can reduce budget deficits while still investing in national priorities that support economic growth.
The full text of the legislation is HERE.
A one pager is HERE.
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