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The Senate has completed consideration of President Donald Trump’s $3.3 trillion, 940-page agenda bill, sending it back to the House of Representatives to sync up before hitting the commander in chief’s desk for his signature.

It first passed the House by just one vote in late May, and now it must advance through the chamber one more time before it can be signed into law.

That’s because the Senate made some key changes to the legislation, chiefly to pass the ‘Byrd Bath’ process in which its various measures are weighed for whether they adhere to the strict guidelines of the budget reconciliation process.

Republicans are using budget reconciliation to pass Trump’s agenda on taxes, the border, energy, defense and the national debt. It allows the party in power to pass fiscal legislation while sidelining the minority – in this case, Democrats – by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 to 51. 

Here are some of the key changes between the two versions:

Medicaid

Stricter work requirements have been the crown jewel for the GOP, being included in both versions. The bill would require ​​able-bodied, childless adults between the ages of 18 and 64 to work at least 80 hours a month to maintain their benefits, or by ​​participating in community service, going to school or engaging in a work program.

But there are more divisive changes, like tweaks to the Medicaid provider tax rate. The rate change would, year-by-year, lower the provider tax in Medicaid expansion states from 6 %to 3.5%. The plan was tweaked to comply with Senate rules, and now starts in fiscal year 2028. 

The House bill, in comparison, would have frozen states at their current rates and placed a moratorium on new provider taxes.

It’s a sticking point for moderate House Republicans who could see their states be forced to foot more of the bill for Medicaid than they currently do, risking politically damaging cuts to the program.

The Senate bill also includes a $50 billion fund to help rural hospitals in a bid to ease the concerns of Republicans in their own chamber.

Debt ceiling

The Senate bill aims to raise the debt limit by $5 trillion, $1 trillion higher than the House bill called for.

The U.S. national debt is currently just over $36 trillion.

A failure to raise that limit – also called the debt ceiling – before the U.S. government runs out of cash to pay its obligations could result in a downgrade in the country’s credit rating and potential turmoil in financial markets.

Trump has made it a priority for congressional Republicans to deal with the debt ceiling and avoid a national credit default.

A bipartisan agreement struck in 2023 suspended the debt ceiling until January 2025.

Multiple projections show the U.S. is poised to run out of cash to pay its debts by sometime this summer.

Taxes

The Senate version of the legislation provides more generous corporate tax benefits than the House version, while placing limits on Trump’s newer policies, eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.

Both bills sought to permanently extend the income tax brackets of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

The Senate bill makes permanent some corporate tax breaks that the House bill only temporarily expanded. It also makes permanent the standard deduction for personal income taxes, while the House bill only extended it through 2028.

The Senate bill would also allow people to deduct taxes on up to $25,000 of tipped wages. That deduction would begin to phase out for people making $150,000 per year or $300,000 as a married couple.

On the House side, the deduction is eliminated for both married and single filers making above $160,000. There is no cap of any kind on the amount that can be deducted, however.

Those same income differences are at play between the Senate and House versions of Trump’s ‘no tax on overtime pay’ promise. Whereas the Senate bill would allow people to deduct up to $12,500 in overtime pay, the House version did not include a stated limit.

Artificial Intelligence

The House version of the bill would have effectively blocked states from implementing their own AI regulations – a provision that was stripped out of the Senate bill even despite negotiations with critics to salvage the measure.

Sen. Masha Blackburn, R-Tenn., led the Senate GOP opposition to the measure, arguing it would prevent states from shielding populations who are vulnerable to the pitfalls of AI.

After talks with key senators fell through, Blackburn and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., co-sponsored an amendment to remove that provision. It passed 99 to 1.

Outside of Washington, 17 Republican state governors wrote to Congress objecting to the AI moratorium. 

‘This is a monumental win for Republican governors, President Trump’s one, big beautiful bill, and the American people,’ Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, one of the signatories, wrote on X after it was removed.

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USAID will no longer send foreign assistance across the globe, with the State Department taking over any such programs that President Donald Trump’s administration wishes to continue, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday.

Rubio made the announcement in a Tuesday statement, saying USAID had for decades failed to ensure the programs it funded actually supported America’s interests. The State Department will take over foreign assistance programs beginning July 1, he said.

‘Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War. Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown,’ Rubio wrote.

‘This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end. Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency,’ he continued.

The move comes after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gutted USAID as part of Trump’s effort to remove waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government.

The agency came under fire for many funding choices, including allocating $1.5 million for a program that sought to ‘advance diversity, equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities’ and a $70,000 program for a ‘DEI musical’ in Ireland.

As a result, Rubio announced on March 11 that the State Department had completed a six-week review and would cancel more than 80% of USAID programs — cutting roughly 5,200 of USAID’s 6,200 programs.

Democrats have blasted the Trump administration’s efforts to trim foreign aid programs, and many activists have protested the plans. Actress Charlize Theron lashed out at the administration on Monday.

‘The world feels like it’s burning because it is,’ Theron said at the annual Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Program Block Party, according to Variety.

‘Foreign aid cuts brought HIV and AIDS programs in my home country of South Africa to an absolute standstill,’ Theron said. ‘All of this is not just detrimental, it’s dangerous. People will lose their lives. Many have already, unfortunately, and at a frightening rate. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see this kind of unnecessary suffering.’

Theron also criticized recent immigration raids in Los Angeles and claimed that women and LGBTQ people are also under threat of ‘being erased.’

‘Here in Los Angeles, in the U.S. and across the globe, we are moving backwards fast. Immigration policy is destroying the lives of families, not criminals. Women’s rights are becoming less and less every day, queer and trans lives are increasingly being erased, and gender-based violence is on the rise. This isn’t just policy, it’s personal. F— them,’ she said.

Theron emphasized, however, that there is hope in ‘standing up, organizing, protesting, voting and caring for each other, and refusing to accept that this is the new normal.’ She touted her charity as an example.

Fox News’ Diana Stancy and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report

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The House of Representatives is expected to take up the Senate’s modified version of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ this week.

The Senate passed the bill after a marathon weekend session, which included Democrats forcing a read-through of the entire 940-page text. Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote.

The bill first passed the House in late May by just one vote – and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will have a margin of just three Republicans to advance it again.

Both moderate and conservative House Republicans still had various concerns about the bill as of the weekend, but it’s not immediately clear if it will be enough to force GOP leaders to pause their ambitious timeline of getting the bill to the president’s desk by Fourth of July.

‘The House will work quickly to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill that enacts President Trump’s full America First agenda by the Fourth of July. The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay,’ House GOP leaders said in a joint statement.

‘This bill is President Trump’s agenda, and we are making it law. House Republicans are ready to finish the job and put the One Big Beautiful Bill on President Trump’s desk in time for Independence Day.’

Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital on Monday that the House could start voting as early as Wednesday at 9 a.m. on the first procedural hurdle, with final passage possible later that day or Thursday.

House GOP leadership held a brief call with lawmakers on Saturday to discuss their expectations on the timing of the bill, while also urging them to air concerns with their Senate counterparts directly – rather than on social media.

Meanwhile, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and his team began taking temperatures in the House GOP conference remotely on Sunday, even as the Senate still considered the bill.

‘We want to get on this as soon as possible, so be prepared,’ Emmer told lawmakers, Fox News Digital was told.

But a source familiar with whip team operations told Fox News Digital on Sunday that conservative fiscal hawks had concerns about the Senate’s version of the bill, particularly after the parliamentarian said key provisions must be stripped out.

Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to fast-track a massive bill advancing Trump’s agenda on taxes, the border, defense, energy and the national debt. 

Budget reconciliation allows the party in power to sideline opposition – in this case, Democrats – by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51. But the legislation must adhere to certain guidelines, including only adding measures that deal with the federal budget or national debt.

The parliamentarian is a nonpartisan, unelected Senate staffer who helps guide the chamber through its complex procedures. The parliamentarian is chosen by the Senate majority leader, without term limits, and is typically selected from someone already working in the parliamentarian’s office due to their deep knowledge of its mechanisms.

Measures deemed non-germane to the final bill included a provision banning Medicaid funding from covering transgender medical services and a measure aimed at slashing funding to states that allow illegal immigrants to use Medicaid services.

But the Senate made its own changes to the House bill even without the parliamentarian’s input; the Senate added a $50 billion rural hospital fund to offset concerns from Senate Republicans about Medicaid cuts still in the bill.

A provision was also added late Saturday morning that raised tax deductions for whale hunters, an apparent bid to court Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who had various concerns about the bill.

The Senate bill would also increase the debt limit by $5 trillion, compared to the House bill’s $4 trillion. The U.S. debt is currently over $36 trillion.

House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote a lengthy post on X listing his issues with the bill.

‘The Senate BBB has a deficit problem. 1) CBO shows the Senate bill misses the House framework by $651 billion EXCLUDING interest. Even adjusted for dynamic growth revenues – interest in light of front-loaded cost vs. backloaded savings lifts cost to $1.3 Trillion,’ he began.

Among his other issues were the debt limit increase and the added benefit aimed at Alaska.

‘There remain numerous substantive problems – from illegals on benefits to funding sex change operations, no REINS Act regulatory relied,’ he posted.

Roy told reporters on Tuesday that he was not confident in the final vote happening by July 4, ‘I think the odds are hell of a lot lower than they were even 48 hours ago, or 72 hours ago.’

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said on ‘Fox Report’ on Sunday, ‘If it does pass the Senate and comes over with those significant changes, it changes the framework that we agreed upon in the House from a spending perspective.’

‘When you do that, there are a lot of us that are going to have pause because we’re not cutting as much spending as we wanted to cut previously because of decisions that the parliamentarian has made. So it’s going be challenging,’ Steube said.

Meanwhile, multiple House GOP moderates are threatening to vote ‘no’ over Medicaid cuts – specifically, changes that would shift a greater cost burden onto states that expanded their Medicaid populations under ObamaCare.

A source close to Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital that she would vote against the bill if the Senate did not adhere to the House’s Medicaid language on Saturday.

Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., said in a public written statement, ‘I’ve been clear from the start that I will not support a final reconciliation bill that makes harmful cuts to Medicaid, puts critical funding at risk, or threatens the stability of healthcare providers across [California’s 22nd Congressional District].’

‘I urge my Senate colleagues to stick to the Medicaid provisions in H.R.1 – otherwise, I will vote no,’ Valadao wrote.

On the lawmaker-only call Saturday, both Johnson and Scalise urged Republicans to keep their negotiations and concerns about the bill private.

‘They’re not going to be reading your social media, so putting it there doesn’t help. You need to reach out to them directly, they’re in the thick of it,’ Johnson said, Fox News Digital was told.

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Senate Republicans rallied to send President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ back to the House, notching a major victory in their record-shattering march toward getting the legislation signed into law.

Nearly every Republican in the upper chamber coalesced to advance Trump’s $3.3 trillion megabill, save for Sens.Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Rand Paul, R-Ky, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. No Senate Democrat crossed the aisle to support the bill.

Vice President JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote was needed to push the bill across the finish line – unlike on Saturday, when the Ohio Republican descended on Capitol Hill in anticipation of a tight vote to proceed with debate on the bill.

That comes after Republican leadership tried to win over the votes of Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, with sweeteners in the final, amended version of the bill. 

The bill now heads to the House, where fiscal hawks in the House Freedom Caucus are frustrated with what they say are shallow spending cuts, and moderates are concerned over cuts to Medicaid. All have warned that they may not support the bill. 

Still, Republican leaders have made clear that they intend to have the bill on Trump’s desk by Friday.

Many House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called on the Senate to change as little as possible. A product that could pass the House was front of mind for some Senate Republicans as the day dragged on. 

‘We’re talking to the House,’ Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said. ‘We know they’re going to have some issues over there, just like we had some issues when it came over here, too. But we think we’re going to pass a bill that they can pass.’

House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, the chief tax writer in the House, said he was ‘optimistic’ about the bill on his way to the Senate floor Tuesday morning. 

‘We’re moving to the point that we’re getting more balance, and what I’ve said all along is let’s have balance in the bill,’ the Missouri Republican said. ‘We’re going to get this done, we’re going to get this to the president by July 4.’ 

Republicans pushed the chamber from the end of June to the beginning of July after a marathon weekend that saw a high drama unfold on the Senate floor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., bleed time, hours of mostly one-sided debate, the occasional protest in the Senate gallery, a grueling blast of amendments and the penultimate vote to move the ball forward for the president’s ambitious agenda.

The blur from Monday to Tuesday, like the weekend slog before it, was not without its own dramatics.  

Senate Democrats tried numerous times to shelve the legislation during the ‘vote-a-rama,’ while Republicans sought to revive certain measures that were scrapped – like provisions that would have booted illegal immigrants from Medicaid – or amendments to sate key Republican holdouts. 

And before the bill was put on the floor for a final vote, last-minute deals were struck and changes made in a ‘wraparound’ amendment to attract holdouts. 

Included was the doubling of the rural hospital fund to $50 billion, which was pushed by Collins, and a rollback of the start date of supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) work requirements for states with higher payment error rates, like Alaska. 

Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ is crammed with his and congressional Republicans’ legislative priorities, including billions for the Pentagon and to bolster the White House’s border and immigration agenda, the permanent extension of his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, deep spending cuts and an effort to reform Medicaid.

Senate Republicans have pitched the bill as a way to both turbocharge the economy and as a means to prevent Trump’s first-term tax cuts from expiring. They have simultaneously used it as a vehicle to achieve deep spending cuts in the neighborhood of $1.5 trillion.

But Senate Democrats have railed against the package for the millions it could boot off of Medicaid and the trillions it could add to the federal deficit.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released two sets of scores Saturday and Sunday that reflected both current policy and current law. Under current policy, the bill would tack on just over $507 billion over the next decade. But under current law, the package would add roughly $3.3 trillion.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., countered that when it came to spending, Senate Democrats were being hypocritical. 

‘I’ve been here a long time,’ Thune said. ‘And I’ve not been involved in a single spending debate and fight in which Republicans were trying to spend less, and Democrats were trying to spend more, with one exception. 

‘And that’s national security,’ he continued. ‘Democrats are always willing to cut defense but never want to cut anywhere else.’

But Schumer accused Trump of ‘lying’ about the bill, particularly over the nature of proposed cuts to Medicaid and the economic growth potential tied to the tax package. 

And in one final act of defiance ahead of the bill’s final passage, Schumer had the official title of the legislation ‘The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act’ nixed. 

‘The American people will not forget what Republicans do in this chamber today,’ Schumer said. 

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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk threatened to support primary challenges of GOP senators who vote in favor of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ prompting pushback from some senators who spoke to Fox News Digital. 

I’ll take President Trump’s endorsement over Elon’s any day of the week back home,’ Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall told Fox News Digital.

‘Look, we need to pass this bill because it helps fulfill President Trump’s agenda. His priorities were to secure the border, bring back prosperity and security. I think if we do those things, if we bring back the prosperity and the security, we’re going to get re-elected. Elon’s continuing his little spat, we are ignoring him. Let’s get this bill across the finish line.’

GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama told Fox News Digital that the ‘bottom line’ is that ’51 of us are going to vote for this tonight.’

I saw some of the things he’s upset over, the subsidies that we’re cutting out of energy, you know, the wind and solar. He thinks that we need to do more with energy, and I agree with that, but we can’t keep funding it through the federal government. We’ve got to go out there and do it the right way through private enterprise like he’s done it.’

Missouri GOP Sen. Schmitt praised Musk’s work at DOGE, saying he has a ‘ton of respect’ for the former DOGE chief and said he should be congratulated for the ‘incredible thing’ he did for the country, finding waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.

‘Everybody’s entitled to their opinions,’ Schmitt said. 

GOP Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty told Fox News Digital that by the time primary elections come up in 2026, the country will ‘already be seeing the benefits of the bill.’

We’re going to see more growth and more tax benefits, more revenue benefits, I should say, so, I don’t think that the doom and gloom being predicted by many is actually going to manifest itself,’ Hagerty explained. ‘In fact, I think we’re opening the door to a new golden era, as President Trump likes to say.’

South Dakota GOP Sen. Jon Hoeven pushed back on the criticism that the bill would increase the deficit by arguing the deficit would be reduced via revenue growth and savings. 

I think people understand that he, you know, didn’t like the one big, beautiful bill,’ Hoeven said. ‘So I don’t know that people have paid, you know, nearly as much attention to it this time around.’

Marshall, when asked if he thought Musk’s primary threats would hurt Republicans in the midterms, said, ‘I haven’t given it a second thought today.’

It would be a big speed bump in certain states, in Kansas, probably not so much. I think President Trump was wildly popular in most of these states. I think we need to find a way to get Elon back on board. He’s a smart person, brings a lot to our economy. Let’s figure out how to bring Elon back into the fold here.’

Musk intensified his ongoing feud with Trump and his allies this week in a political warning to lawmakers that he would work to unseat them if they voted in support of Trump’s bill.

‘Anyone who campaigned on the PROMISE of REDUCING SPENDING, but continues to vote on the BIGGEST DEBT ceiling increase in HISTORY will see their face on this poster in the primary next year,’ Musk posted to X Monday evening.

The message was accompanied by an image of Pinocchio sitting on fire and the caption, ‘LIAR Voted to increase America’s DEBT by 5,000,000,000.00’

‘Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,’ Musk declared in a post on X on Monday.

On Tuesday morning, as the bill was being debated in the Senate, Trump warned that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a ‘monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.’

‘DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible?’ Trump told the media Tuesday morning as he departed for a trip to the Florida Everglades to visit a new migrant detention center. ‘He gets a lot of subsidies. But, Elon was very upset that the EV mandate is going to be terminated.’ 

His response followed a question regarding whether he would deport Musk, who is originally from South Africa. Trump responded, ‘I don’t know, we’ll have to take a look.’

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.

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An Iran-linked cyber group is threatening to release a trove of emails it claims to have stolen from top Trump officials and allies. 

The hackers previously released a batch of stolen emails to the media during the 2024 campaign. 

Under the pseudonym Robert, the hackers first told Reuters they had roughly 100 gigabytes of emails from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump confidante Roger Stone, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan and Stormy Daniels, the porn star who claims to have had an affair with Trump. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi called the hack an ‘unconscionable cyberattack’ and said government agencies would work to ‘protect the officials targeted by this rogue group.’

FBI Director Kash Patel added in a statement, ‘Safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the president’s mission is a top priority.’  

‘Anyone associated with any kind of breach of national security will be fully investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.’

Marci McCarthy, spokesperson for the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency, called Iran’s threat ‘an effort to distract, discredit and divide.’ 

‘These criminals will be brought to justice,’ she said in a statement. Let this be a warning to others there will be no refuge, tolerance or leniency for these actions

‘A hostile foreign adversary is threatening to illegally exploit purportedly stolen and unverified material in an effort to distract, discredit and divide. This so-called ‘cyber attack’ is nothing more than digital propaganda, and the targets are no coincidence. This is a calculated smear campaign meant to damage President Trump and discredit honorable public servants.’ 

Last summer, at the height of the 2024 election, Iranian-linked hackers sent material stolen from the Trump campaign to individuals associated with the Biden campaign and to U.S. media organizations. In an indictment in September, the Biden Justice Department accused three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps of being behind the leak. 

In May, the hackers behind ‘Robert’ signaled to Reuters they would not be leaking any more documents. ‘I am retired, man.’ 

However, the group reached back out after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran’s nuclear sites. They said they were organizing a sale of the stolen communications and asked Reuters to publicize it.

U.S. cyber officials warned on Monday that U.S. companies and critical infrastructure operators may still be in Iran’s crosshairs. Experts have suggested Iran may be looking for non-military ways to punish the U.S. for its strikes. 

‘Despite a declared ceasefire and ongoing negotiations towards a permanent solution, Iranian-affiliated cyber actors and hacktivist groups may still conduct malicious cyber activity,’ U.S. agencies said in an advisory. 

The new threat comes as Trump insists he is not speaking to Iran and has offered them nothing for nuclear negotiations. He has said Iran’s facilities were ‘totally obliterated.’ 

Fox News’ David Spunt contributed to this report. 

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Days after winning the Bad Hamburg tournament, American Jessica Pegula is headed home after a stunning first-round defeat by Elisabetta Cocciaretto at Wimbledon.

Cocciaretto, a 24-year-old Italian ranked No. 116 in the world, defeated the No. 3 seed 6-2, 6-3 in an efficient 58 minutes. Pegula was coming off the Bad Hamburg tournament title on grass, where she beat Iga Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam winner, in the final.

‘She played absolutely incredible tennis,’ Pegula said of Cocciaretto. ‘Do I think I played the best match ever? No. But I definitely don’t think I was playing bad. It wasn’t like I was playing that bad.

‘She just was hitting her shots and going for it, serving big, serving high percentage, going big second serves, redirecting the ball. It was just her day, I honestly think.’

Pegula had just five winners in the match, made 24 unforced errors, and didn’t convert a single break point. It was her first opening round defeat at a Grand Slam since the 2020 French Open.

With the victory, Cocciaretto became the first Italian woman to beat a top 3 seed at Wimbledon in the Open Era and to defeat a WTA Top-3 player at any major since the 2015 US Open.

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The first day of July marks Bobby Bonilla Day, an annual celebration of one of the strangest deals in the history of Major League Baseball.

Bonilla, a six-time All-Star who played his last game in 2001, has been receiving a $1.19 million check from the New York Mets every year since 2011, the result of a decision 25 years ago to delay paying the $5.9 million they owed him.

Looking to dump Bonilla after the 1999 season, the Mets opted to defer his payment – with 8% interest – giving him $1,193,248.20 annually on July 1 from 2011-2035 – adding up to nearly $30 million.

“It’s bigger than my birthday,’ Bonilla told USA TODAY Sports. “When that day comes, I get texts all day long, and couple of days after and maybe a day or two before. Everybody just seems to love that day and have fun with it. It’s become a pretty big thing.’

Contract deferrals weren’t new in baseball at the time and have been deployed heavily in the 25 years since Bonilla left the Mets, but the fact that he will be getting seven-figure checks until he’s 72 years old is what most captivates the baseball world.

“There’ll be plenty of other deferred contracts,’ Bonilla’s former agent Dennis Gilbert told USA TODAY Sports in 2023, “but for a guy to be paid that long into his life, into his 70s, I don’t think we’ll ever see that again. 

“That’s why Bobby Bonilla Day should be celebrated.’

Bobby Bonilla Day contract

Bonilla signed a four-year, $23.3 million contract with the Marlins prior to the 1997 season and helped the team win its first World Series that year, but was traded to the Dodgers in 1998 as part of the club’s infamous fire sale.

Before the 1999 season, the Dodgers traded Bonilla to the Mets, who were looking for a new right fielder at the time – with New York assuming the remaining two years and $11.65 million on Bonilla’s contract.

Then 36 years old, Bonilla played just 60 regular season games for the Mets in 1999, batting .160. He was constantly booed by fans and clashed with manager Bobby Valentine over his playing time and was relegated to the bench for the team’s postseason run.

The Mets released Bonilla after the 1999 season but still owed him $5.9 million for 2000. The team worked with Bonilla’s agent (Gilbert) to defer the $5.9 million – with 8% interest – to annual payments of $1,193,248.20 on July 1 from 2011 to 2035.

“It’s funny how the Bobby Bonilla thing has blown up,’ agent Nez Balelo told USA TODAY Sports in 2023, months before negotiating Shohei Ohtani’s historic $700 million deal with $680 million deferred. “I just think it’s because someone has been out of the game for so long, making that much money every year, it fascinates people.’

When does Bobby Bonilla Day end?

The Mets’ final ‘Bobby Bonilla Day’ payment is set for 2035, when the six-time All-Star will be 72 years old.

Though Bobby Bonilla Day remains something of a punchline and opportunity to laugh at the Mets, the team has embraced the situation since Steve Cohen bought the team. New York’s new owner immediately joked about holding a Bobby Bonilla Day celebration at Citi Field, complete with an oversized check.

Bobby Bonilla stats

Bonilla played 2,113 career games in 16 seasons from 1986 to 2001, finishing with 287 home runs, a .279 average and an .829 OPS.

Bonilla’s best years came with the Pirates from 1987-1991, averaging 23 home runs and 97 RBIs per season.

He was an All-Star four years in a row, winning three Silver Slugger awards, and was the 1990 NL MVP runner-up and finished third in MVP voting in 1991, his final year in Pittsburgh. He was also named an All-Star in 1993 and 1995 during his first tenure with the Mets.

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While the NCAA has informed schools that they may provide up to $20.5 million in new benefits for athletes during the 2025-26 school year as part of the settlement of three athlete-compensation antitrust cases against the association and the Power Five conferences, the plaintiffs’ lawyers say they are exercising their right to have the data used to arrive at that spending limit audited because they have questions about the figures.

If the audit finds that the cap should have been greater than $20.5 million, court intervention could be involved. All of this may not affect schools this year, but it could impact them in the future.

Under the settlement, the per-school benefits pool for the school year that begins next week is capped at an amount equal to 22% of the combined total of a defined set of revenues that Power Five conference schools had during their respective 2023-24 fiscal years. Beginning July 1, in a fundamental change for college sports, schools will be allowed to use money from that pool to directly pay athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness.

The revenue data being used to determine the benefits cap must be provided by the NCAA to the plaintiffs’ lawyers annually during the 10-year life of the settlement. The plaintiffs’ lawyers then “have the right to reasonably audit” the data, according to the agreement – and they are having an outside firm do so, according one their leaders, Steve Berman.

“For the sake of getting this started July 1, we are willing to use” $20.5 million as the cap, Berman said. “But if that turns out to be different, there will have to be some adjustment. … We have questions about the information we’ve gotten.”

The NCAA declined to comment on the matter.

If an adjustment occurs, it probably would not happen during the 2025-26 school year. But an adjusted number could be used as the baseline for future years.

The cap number for Year 1 of the settlement is particularly important because it is scheduled to be used as the baseline for a 4% increase in Year 2. The Year 3 cap amount is, in turn, set to be based on 4% increase in the cap number for Year 2. A reset to an amount equal to 22% of the defined revenues is scheduled for Year 4.

At issue, among other items, is whether certain revenues connected to luxury suites have been accounted for correctly, Berman said. Also, the settlement states that as part their audit rights, the plaintiffs’ lawyers are entitled to “receive an accounting from an agreed-upon accounting firm” of all revenue categorized on the schools’ annual financial reports to the NCAA under a miscellaneous “Other Operating Revenue” category “to determine whether, in the (the plaintiffs’ lawyers’) opinion any such reported revenue is more properly reportable as one of the agreed-upon revenue categories and should therefore be included” in the schools’ combined total.  

Any disputes about the data are to be settled by Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins, who has been appointed as a special master by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken.

“We are asking for information,” Berman said. “We’re going back and forth with the NCAA about what information they have given us. If we’re not satisfied, we’ll go to Judge Cousins.

“This will not happen overnight. We’re asking questions about all of this. That’s our job. … We don’t know that there’s a controversy. … We are examining all of this stuff, making sure revenue was put into the right bucket.”

Wilken gave final approval to the settlement on June 6. Two groups of objectors have filed a notice of appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. So far, neither of those efforts seeks to delay the forward-looking provisions of the agreement that are set to take effect July 1 and also include the elimination of sport-by-sport scholarship limits.

The new per-school benefits pool will take account other spending, including the value of new, or incremental, athletic scholarships schools award above the number of scholarships that the NCAA currently allows in a given sport, up to a maximum of $2.5 million. So, if the initial cap is $20.5 million and a school awards $2.8 million in new scholarships, it could only make $18 million in NIL payments to athletes.

The question about the schools’ miscellaneous “Other Operating Revenue” figures stems, in part, from large amounts that some Power Five public schools reported in that category. For example, Penn State, Washington and Colorado reported amounts that represented more than 10% of their total operating revenue – dollar amounts that ranged from $15.1 million for Colorado, to $32.4 million for Penn State, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports in conjunction with the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database at Syracuse University. The NCAA asks that if “Other Operating Revenue” is greater than 10% of total revenue, “please report the top three activities included in this category in the comments section.”

Washington’s reported in that section: “Other Revenues includes revenues received for Coaches and Administrative Contract Buyouts for Baseball, Gymnastics, Football, and Athletic Directors.”

Penn State’s and Colorado’s comments sections were blank. It is possible that Penn State’s comments were redacted. Under state open-records law, Penn State is not required to make this information public – and while it chooses to do so, it redacts individual head coaches’ compensation information from the report it releases.

Six other schools reported “Other Operating Revenue” of more than $10 million, amounts that represented less than 10% of each of those schools’ total revenue.

There were six schools that reported “Other Operating Revenue” of less than $1 million. Among those were Texas, Tennessee and Clemson, each of which reported more than $193 million in total revenue.

“We’ve seen some things that we don’t have an explanation for,” Berman said.

In addition to benefiting athletes, a greater benefits cap amount stands to benefit the plaintiffs’ lawyers. As permitted by the settlement agreement, they have asked Wilken to award them, as fees and costs, a percentage of the $2.8 billion in damages that totals nearly $525 million.

The lawyers also are seeking the right to apply annually to special master Cousins for 0.75% to 1.25% of the annual total amount spent by Division I schools on new benefits for athletes. Over the 10-year settlement term, that could total roughly another $250 million.

The question of luxury-suite revenues involvement in the calculation of the cap is more complicated. It connects to language in the settlement and the definitions used in the schools’ revenue-and-expense reports to the NCAA. Those reports include 21 revenue categories. Eight of those categories form the defined set of revenues used to calculate the benefits cap.

Among those categories is ticket revenue. The NCAA tells schools to report “amounts paid in excess of ticket’s face value to obtain preferential seating or priority” under another category that is called “Contributions.” Revenue from “Contributions” is not among the eight categories form the defined set of revenues used to the calculate the benefits cap.

However, the settlement agreement says that for the purposes of the agreement, ticket revenue “shall include actual monetary revenues received by or for the benefit of Member Institutions for suite licenses exclusive of (a) any associated philanthropy [“Contributions”] and (b) the use of suites for any purposes not related to student athletic events (e.g., concerts).”

Suites are just one type of seating area for which schools require customers to make payments in excess of a ticket’s face price. Many schools require such payments for the right to purchase club seats or seats in more desirable areas of the main stands. Arguably, none of these payments constitute philanthropy. Under federal tax law changes enacted in 2017, no portion of these amounts are tax deductable.

In addition, the pay structure for a suite can look like what Texas A&M outlined in online information for a suite for the 2024 football season: An “Annual Suite Contribution” of $65,100 and a “Capital Gift” of $933,333 provided a “Term of Usage Right” of 14 Years.

In an email May 16, another of the plaintiffs’ lead attorneys, Jeff Kessler, told USA TODAY Sports of the revenue reporting he expected to see from the NCAA: “The suite figure is going to be reported separately from” the 21 revenue categories.

In late May and early June – before the NCAA announced that the cap for 2025-26 will be $20.5 million — athletics department officials at three different Power Five schools, each in a separate conference, said they were unaware of their school having reported a separate suite-license revenue figure to the NCAA or anyone associated with the litigation. Three officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

“We have questions about suite revenues,” Berman said on Monday, June 30.

How all of this turns out remains to be seen, but Berman said: “We are taking our 10-year audit function seriously.”

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At the height of Pat Summitt’s legendary coaching career, she had “a very brief conversation” with Tennessee officials about coaching the Vols’ men’s basketball team.

The idea didn’t go far. Summitt was not keen on leaving the Lady Vols in favor of the men’s game.

“I’m not interested,” Summitt told reporters in 1997. “Everyone always views that as a step up. I don’t.”

I can understand why Summitt, a pioneer for women’s sports, would see coaching the Tennessee men as a step down. Summitt’s Lady Vols powered and ruled women’s basketball. The Tennessee men were mired in a stretch of losing seasons.

And still, I would have been interested in seeing Summitt coach men’s basketball, either collegiately or in the NBA.

Likewise, I’d be interested in seeing how South Carolina’s Dawn Staley would fare if she crossed into coaching men in the NBA.

Reports surfaced in recent days that the New York Knicks might have interest in Staley for their coaching vacancy, and South Carolina athletic director Jeremiah Donati on Monday confirmed to the Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the Knicks reached out to Staley about the position.

Unlike Summitt’s situation at Tennessee, Staley leaving South Carolina in favor of the Knicks would be a step up. It’s literally a next-level opportunity. To coach the Knicks is to coach in a basketball mecca, in the nation’s brightest (and hottest) spotlight.

Staley, 55, has repeatedly professed her commitment to South Carolina. I couldn’t envision her leaving for another college job. The NBA, though, could move the needle. Staley previously interviewed for the Portland Trail Blazers coaching position in 2021.

Staley, like Summitt before her, doesn’t need the men’s game, and the Knicks don’t necessarily need her. This remains an enviable job that should attract a variety of good candidates.

Would Staley be an interesting choice? Absolutely, she would. Hiring Staley would be perhaps the boldest move the Knicks could make.

No woman has ever coached an NBA team.

No shame in Dawn Staley staying at South Carolina, but …

Staley knows the game. She’s not only an elite recruiter for South Carolina, but she’s also an effective motivator who unites a variety of personalities, and she’s established her X’s and O’s acumen. Still, coaching collegiate women and professional men pose different challenges.

Not every elite college coach would thrive in the NBA. Ask Rick Pitino about that. He didn’t connect with NBA players.

Summitt once swatted aside the idea of coaching NBA players.

“Watching some of these guys, I wouldn’t even want to deal with them,” Summitt told Time magazine in 2009.

Former Connecticut women’s basketball player Gabby Williams once said Geno Auriemma would “lose his mind” coaching men. I disagree. In his younger days, I think Auriemma would have been a very good men’s college basketball coach, but he turned back opportunities.

There’s no shame in sticking with what you know and doing it better than your peers. If Staley sticks around at South Carolina, where she’s won three national championships, she’d likely finish her career on the women’s basketball coaching Mount Rushmore, where Summitt and Auriemma are linchpins.

There also would be no shame in Staley leaving the women’s game for a new challenge. She’s given women’s basketball 25 years of her coaching career. Staley and her star-studded Gamecocks teams helped accelerate the sport’s rise in popularity. Women’s basketball would miss Staley, but it’s positioned to withstand the loss of one coaching star.

Coaching Knicks would be a low-risk move for Dawn Staley

Staley would face heightened scrutiny in the NBA, and every decision she made would be subject to New York’s media microscope. Even so, she wouldn’t absorb much professional risk if she gave the NBA a shot.

Best-case scenario: She’d succeed in the NBA, grow her legacy, and possibly pave the way for more women to become NBA coaches.

Or, if she struggled in the NBA, she’d retain a clear path back to the college game. Women’s programs would stumble over themselves to hire her. South Carolina was nothing before Staley arrived, and she could galvanize another women’s program, too, much like Kim Mulkey did for LSU after leaving Baylor.

Staley shouldn’t feel compelled to break barriers. If she wants to keep coaching women, she should. If she’s ready for something different, now is the time, while she’s in her prime.

Staley’s not the only woman qualified for this job, either. Consider the case of Becky Hammon, the former NBA assistant who’s won two WNBA titles coaching the Las Vegas Aces.

Hammon would be a potentially awkward choice, though, considering she once questioned whether the Knicks could win an NBA title with Jalen Brunson as their star, because he’s too small. Was Hammon wrong? The Knicks haven’t reached the NBA Finals since 1999.

Still, that’d be grounds for a bumpy dynamic between coach and star player.

Staley, by comparison, knows Brunson. She has a rapport with him. That’s handy. Managing star players and their egos comes as part of an NBA job description.

Staley has nothing left to prove in the women’s game. That doesn’t mean she must leave for the NBA, but how fun would it be if she did, and journeyed to a place Summitt never ventured?

Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

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