US energy chief visits Venezuela

Today's top stories, with context, in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:
1) President Trump’s tariff policies suffered their strongest political blow yet with the Republican-led US House passing legislation aimed at ending the president’s levies on Canadian imports. Wednesday’s vote represents an increase in political pressure to change course on Trump’s signature economic policy just months before the midterm elections, including by forcing swing-district Republicans affected by the tariffs to weigh when or if to cross the president by voting against his agenda. The vote also signals a growing anxiety over the White House’s economic agenda before elections that are expected to focus heavily on affordability. Democrats were quick to attack the Republicans who voted to protect the tariffs, blaming them for shielding policies that increase the cost of living for their voters. While Trump is almost certain to veto any bill calling for a repeal of his tariff agenda, making it unlikely the measure will ever become law, defections from six Republicans alongside opposition from nearly all Democrats underscore his increasingly tenuous hold on the narrow House majority.
2) Republicans advanced voter ID legislation over the opposition of most Democrats Wednesday as House GOP leaders seek to convince their Senate counterparts to muscle through the bill. Conservatives are touting the measure, which the House passed by 218-213, as necessary to beef up election security ahead of the November midterms and 2028 presidential race. Most Democrats oppose the legislation, dubbed the SAVE America Act, and argue it would amount to voter suppression, especially for marginalized groups. The bill faces steep obstacles in the Senate, where GOP leaders would need 60 votes to overcome the legislative filibuster. House Republicans are urging Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to change Senate rules to advance the bill, but the measure’s House backers are also looking at opportunities to tack it onto must-pass bills.
3) Democratic lawmakers accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of using the US Justice Department to target enemies of President Donald Trump and bungling the release of files on disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein during a fiery hearing Wednesday. “You’ve turned the people’s Department of Justice into Trump’s instrument of revenge,” said Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee in Washington. “Trump orders up prosecutions like pizza. And you deliver every time.” Raskin cited Justice Department probes of former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and six members of Congress who recorded a video urging military service members to refuse unlawful orders. Prosecutors failed to get grand jury indictments of Comey and James, and the New York Times reported Tuesday that the department also failed to secure indictments of the lawmakers.

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