The Headlines - G.O.P. Pushback to Trump’s Big Bill, and a Setback to a Contentious Gaza Aid Plan

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

Plus, Disney’s unexpected “rebel” star. On Today’s Episode:Fiscal Hawks in Senate Balk at House’s Bill to Deliver Trump’s Agenda, by Catie Edmondson and Minho KimRepublican Crackdown on Aid to Immigrants Would Hit U.S. Citizens, by Madeleine Ngo and Lydia DePillisRussia Intensifies Attacks on Ukraine as U.S. Steps Back, by Marc SantoraTrump Condemns Putin’s Killings in Ukraine, but Doesn’t Make Him Pay a Price, by David E. SangerHead of New Gaza Aid System Resigns Over Lack of Autonomy, by Patrick Kingsley and Jin Yu YoungAt Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun to Resemble Warehouse Work, by Noam Scheiber‘Lilo & Stitch’ and Tom Cruise Add to a Box Office Boomlet, by Brooks Barnes‘Lilo & Stitch’: How a Fuzzy Blue Alien Became a Disney Cash Cow, by Ashley SpencerTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Will Jarvis, in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, May 27th. Here's what we're covering. In Washington, President Trump's major domestic policy agenda, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, is facing pushback in the Senate after narrowly being passed by the House last week. Its fate could now be determined by a handful of Republican lawmakers, some of whom are pushing for the bill to make more cuts to federal spending. How many other Republican senators do you think share your concerns and are willing to work to make major changes to this bill? I think we have enough to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending

reduction and reducing the deficit. In an interview on CNN, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin echoed concerns that almost derailed the bill in the House, that the legislation would significantly add to the federal deficit. The bill includes major cuts to Medicaid and other welfare programs, but also expands tax cuts and boosts military spending. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky also criticized the bill, calling it, quote, not a serious proposal. He said Republicans should make more cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, and food assistance

programs to drive down the national debt. That could set up a clash not only with Democrats in the Senate, but with some of their Republican colleagues who have been trying to back away from cutting popular programs like Medicaid. The Senate Majority Leader John Thune said there will be changes to the bill passed by the House, but he said how long it takes to hash that out is an open question. Meanwhile, the Times has been looking into what the legislation could mean for immigrant families. As it currently stands, the bill would cut off food stamps and other welfare benefits to undocumented immigrants and some people without permanent legal status, like refugees

and those who have been granted asylum. Republicans say the goal is to remove incentives for people trying to enter the country illegally. But immigration experts and advocates say the changes will largely be felt by American children. That's because there are millions of kids with U.S. citizenship who have at least one parent who isn't a citizen. Currently, kids can get many benefits even if their parents don't have full legal status. But under the new legislation, that could change.

One immigration expert told the Times that cutting off support for American kids when they're young could cause a cascade of issues throughout their lives, saying, going forward, they are the adults of this country. In Ukraine, a series of massive deadly aerial attacks has prompted President Trump to issue a sharp and rare criticism of Russia's president. On Saturday and Sunday, a swarm of long-range drones along with missile barrages killed at least 12 people.

Then before dawn yesterday, Russia launched hundreds more armed drones and missiles. Amid the surge of violence, President Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had quote gone absolutely crazy and that he was needlessly killing a lot of people. But the intense new round of attacks come as the US, which has been Ukraine's main source of advanced weapons, has been pulling back, both militarily and diplomatically. Since taking office, Trump has not approved any new military aid to Ukraine, or said if he'll spend the billions of dollars that Congress has already approved for new weapons shipments.

He's also refused to join Europe in putting new sanctions on Russia. And last week, he said that Russia and Ukraine would have to find a solution to the war themselves, even though he'd previously promised he could end the conflict in 24 hours. In response to Trump's rebuke, Putin's spokesman downplayed the sharp comments, calling them a quote, emotional reaction. In Gaza, an effort to completely overhaul how Palestinians get humanitarian aid is moving forward even as controversy around the project has flared.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, aid has been handed out by the UN and other established humanitarian groups at hundreds of sites across the territory. Now, Israel is turning over the distribution of aid to a new and untested group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, that is set to distribute aid at just a few sites in the south. Over the weekend, the Foundation's executive director resigned, after the Times reported that the group, which claimed to be independent and neutral, had deep connections to Israel. The means by which food is distributed in Gaza is hugely important. It comes after an

80-day blockade by Israel on food and fuel. That brought the territory, according to aid agencies and other monitors, to the brink of starvation and famine. Patrick Kingsley is the Times Jerusalem bureau chief. Supporters of this plan, including the Israeli government and the American government, say this is a good idea because A, it will get food into the territory after a very long blockade and B, it will do so while circumventing Hamas. They say that Hamas routinely takes aid meant for civilians, stockpiles it for itself,

and then sells on the remainder at elevated prices in order to sustain their war effort, and that a new system is therefore necessary. Critics are very wary of the plan for a number of reasons, including the fact that it will force Gazan civilians, Palestinian civilians, to cross Israeli military lines in order to find food and that could put them at risk of being detained or perhaps even shot in some cases.

And in addition, there are fears that this could be part of some broader Israeli plan to displace civilians from northern Gaza to southern Gaza. Because if the only place where they can find food, at least initially under this plan, is in the south, then they will have to move themselves to the southern end of Gaza in order to avoid starvation. At offices across the country, the rise of artificial intelligence hasn't, at least for the moment, kicked off the mass layoffs

that some people worried were imminent. But the Times has been tracking how AI is transforming the way people do their jobs, particularly in one of the fields where it's been most widely adopted, coding. At Google, the company says 30% of its code is now suggested by AI and accepted by developers. At Shopify, using AI is now a baseline expectation, and employees will be asked about it on performance reviews. And at Amazon, a new AI tool can generate large portions of a computer program completely on its own.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that working faster is crucial if the company wants to stay ahead of its competitors, and that in terms of just upgrading old software alone, AI tools have saved the equivalent of 4500 years of developers' work. But software engineers the Times talked to have described a profound change in the quality of their work, saying their jobs have become more routine and less thoughtful, and also much faster-paced. Three Amazon engineers said that as the company leaned into AI, it raised output goals for

the human employees and became less forgiving about deadlines. One labor expert told the Times that overall, the shift for workers is mirroring what happened in the 19th and 20th centuries, when artisanal crafts were replaced by factory assembly lines. And finally, the Hollywood box office seems to be bouncing back. Ever since the pandemic, people have largely been streaming at home instead of heading to the theaters, but a slew of new movies released leading up to Memorial Day weekend are turning the tide. What exactly is your plan? Looking at the top movies in the country, box office revenue is up almost 100 million dollars from last year.

There's been the final installment of the Mission Impossible franchise, the superhero flick Thunderbolts, What the hell? flick Thunderbolts, and the top performer, a live action remake of Lilo and Stitch, which brought in almost $150 million from just Friday to Sunday, one of the most successful films ever released on the holiday weekend. The original Lilo and Stitch was released back in 2002 and wasn't immediately a Disney classic, but it did turn out to be something of a surprise cash cow for Disney because of its merchandise. Stitch became a kind of cult hero, and Disney licensed everything from Stitch squeaker toys for dogs to Stitch power banks to Stitch-themed berry-flavored yogurt. One content creator who highlights Stitch products on TikTok told the Times that Stitch

is appealing because he's different from Mickey or Donald or Goofy Saying quote Disney characters for the most part are all about being proper or being royal But Stitch is just a rebel from birth Those are the headlines today on the daily why the number of abortions in the U.S. have gone up since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That's next in the New York Times audio app or listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Will Jarvis. We'll be back tomorrow.