Good morning. Trump is backing off his demand that Russia declare an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine. The president of CBS News was forced from her post. And we have the inside story of Trump's search for a new Air Force One. More news is below. But first, a look at the Republican factions that could sink Trump's megabill.
Getting votes
Speaker Mike Johnson has a math problem. He wants to pass a megabill before Memorial Day to deliver President Trump's legislative agenda. But with a tiny margin of control in the House, he can afford to lose only three Republican votes (assuming Democrats uniformly oppose it). The problem is that there are way more than three G.O.P. dissenters, and they don't agree on what the problem is. Some think the cuts to Medicaid are too large. Others think they're too small. Some want to purge clean-energy tax breaks. Others want to preserve them because their constituents have used them. For every bloc with one demand that must be met before its members will support the measure, there is another demanding the opposite. Here are some of the combatants. Deficit hawks: About three dozen Republicans have been strategizing in a group text and at the Capitol Hill home of one of the members. Most of them signed a letter earlier this year saying they would not vote for a bill that adds to the federal deficit. The bill's current version would add $3.3 trillion over the next decade.
Swing-district survivors: The Republican Party owes its House majority partly to victories in politically competitive districts in California and New York, states where many constituents rely on Medicaid. At the behest of vulnerable members from those places, G.O.P. leaders dropped two of the most aggressive options they were considering to cut Medicaid costs. The Congressional Budget Office says that the legislation, as written, would cause 8.6 million more Americans to be uninsured and reduce spending by more than $700 billion over a decade.
Clean-energy advocates: The tax breaks in the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act have been a boon to many Republican-held districts. That includes Juan Ciscomani's Arizona seat, where Lucid Motors, an electric vehicle company, expanded its factory expecting to reap the law's rewards. Ciscomani and his allies want to preserve those incentives, which are worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
State-tax deductors: The tax law Republicans passed in 2017 imposed a $10,000 limit on the amount of state and local taxes Americans can write off on their federal returns. The bill now under discussion would triple that. But Republicans from high-tax states like New Jersey want to lift that cap substantially higher — and say they will take down the bill if it doesn't. Conservatives say it's an expensive handout to wealthy residents of blue states. Even a modest change, like doubling the cap for married couples, would cost about $230 billion over a decade.
The megabill advanced out of the Budget Committee on Sunday only because leaders told the dissenters that a later version would address their concerns. But Johnson may have a tough time passing this one. And then it would go to the Senate, where Republicans say they, too, have several objections.
Aid trucks are entering Gaza for the first time in months. Airstrikes have intensified there, killing hundreds of people. Patrick Kingsley, The Times's Jerusalem bureau chief, explains the latest from the war in Gaza. For months, Israel has tried to pressure Hamas by both threatening a new ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and cutting off aid. Yesterday, Israel made a U-turn on aid, allowing a few trucks of food to enter Gaza. And despite escalating its rhetoric and its airstrikes in recent days, Israel's infantry has yet to begin a major advance. The lack of strategic clarity reflects disagreements within Israel's leadership about the country's national priorities. On aid: Benjamin Netanyahu must balance right-wing political allies who oppose sending food to Gaza, and foreign allies — including the Trump administration — who fear a famine. On the invasion, Netanyahu needs to satisfy cabinet ministers, who want a full reoccupation of Gaza, and Israel's top generals, who believe it will be hard to staff and may endanger the hostages. On a full ground offensive: Israel is waiting to see how Hamas responds to new negotiations over a cease-fire pushed by the Trump administration. Israel would trade several hostages for a temporary truce; Hamas is holding out for a permanent deal. But Israel hopes that the fear of losing more territory may prompt Hamas to settle for less. Just as the delay of the ground operation gives negotiators more time to find a compromise, the U-turn on aid gives Israel more time to continue its bombardment of Gaza. Since March, Israel had prevented food and fuel from reaching Gaza. Trump, along with many foreign leaders, recently warned about starvation there. Israel had previously dismissed those claims, but Netanyahu acknowledged yesterday that Israel might forfeit some international support if it allowed a famine to take hold. So Israel asked the United Nations to resume its aid operation.
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Loren Elliot, a freelance photographer, wanted to capture the coyotes that prowl the streets of San Francisco. His images are discordant — wild predators roaming concrete canyons. The Morning's photo editor, Brent Lewis, asked him how he got so close. How do you make pictures like this? There's a way to photograph wildlife ethically. For up-close images, it's one of two techniques. I'm using a remote camera on a ground plate to keep it still. It's silent — no clicking shutter, no strobe. But coyotes are super intelligent and super curious. When they see a foreign object, they often come and just inspect it. That's how I got the picture of the coyote eyes. I was standing about 100 yards away.
The other technique is to put a camera into a waterproof housing with an infrared sensor that triggers the shutter when something comes near. With the supervision of a wildlife ecologist, I left it for eight weeks, and that's how I captured the coyote crawling out of the den. How long did this take? I first started making pictures for this project in October 2023 and spent at least 40 days shooting — plus all the days where I didn't even get to see a coyote. I live in San Francisco, so everything was within 30 minutes of my apartment.
The ratings agency Moody's downgraded American credit. It shows that Congress's failure to handle the budget deficit is leading the country to financial crisis, Rebecca Patterson writes. Here are columns by Michelle Goldberg on Christians accusing Jews of antisemitism and Carlos Lozada on Biden's health and the Democrats. More ways to share, more ways to connect. Find an article you want to share? You can easily post it to your Instagram story or share it as a free-to-read gift article. Learn more.
Power couple: Despite being almost 50 years his junior, Jordon Hudson has put herself at the center of Bill Belichick's empire. She's told at least one person that they're engaged. Ask Well: Is there a least bad alcohol? Trending: People were searching for Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind "Dilbert." Adams announced that he has the same aggressive form of prostate cancer as Biden, The Washington Post reports. Lives Lived: Four decades ago, Jonnie Boer started as a cook at a restaurant in Zwolle, the Netherlands. He never left, and he steered the restaurant, De Librije, to wide acclaim with humble ingredients plucked from nearby streams and fields. Boer died at 60.
N.B.A.: Minnesota is traveling to Oklahoma City for the opening game of the conference finals, powered by Anthony Edwards. N.F.L.: The Eagles are lobbying teams to protect the "tush push," sources told The Athletic. The play could be outlawed this week.
The street photographer Clayton Patterson has spent more than 40 years on the Lower East Side of Manhattan accumulating photos, paintings and other paraphernalia from his beloved neighborhood. He owns — among thousands of other things — portraits of RuPaul and gangs like Satan's Sinners Nomads; empty cocaine and heroin bags; and footage of the 1988 riots in Tompkins Square. Now, his apartment is falling apart, and its contents are in danger. More on culture
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