Lawmakers in Tallahassee and Washington work to pass their respective budgets, and President Donald Trump works with automakers to increase U.S. production.
Lawmakers tackle budgets in Florida and in Washington
In Washington, D.C., lawmakers are working out the details of what President Donald Trump calls one “Big beautiful bill,” a package of Trump’s priorities.
Meanwhile, in Florida, it was supposed to be the last week of the legislative session, but there’s still no budget deal between the Florida House and Florida Senate.
They keep passing offers back and forth.
By law, they have to pass a budget, so they could extend this session.
Florida lawmakers are planning to take a deeper dive into the option of eliminating property taxes in the state.
The Florida House announced Tuesday that lawmakers will spend the rest of the year studying possible cuts to property tax in 2026.
Lawmakers say Gov. Ron DeSantis never gave them any specifics or policy, so they’re coming up with their own plans.
House Republicans took property insurance into their own hands on Tuesday, as they remain divided on tax relief.
“This process is not about ego or pride of authorship or credit. This is about bringing the very best proposals before the people of Florida, so that they have an opportunity to decide their own fate,” State House Speaker Danny Perez said.
A new house committee will soon study the possibility of ending property tax.
“We want to hear from Joe Citizen. We want to hear from all the business owners across. We want to hear from retirees. So, literally anybody who may have been impacted or has an opportunity to save from property taxes, we want to hear from them,” State Rep. Toby Overdorf said.
The panel will also consider some new tax breaks, like a $500,00 exemption against non-school property tax and a $1 million break for Floridians 65 and older.
“I believe that the pandemic really reflected this almost dramatic increase in property values, which has driven up property taxes, and it’s just unsustainable,” State Rep. Vicki Lopez said.
Property taxes vary by county. They’re also a major fund for local government.
“There are some real consequences of eliminating property taxes in the context of everyday essential services like public education, police and fire,” State Rep. Anna Eskamani said.
Now to do any of this, it’s going to require a constitutional amendment.
If this proposal is approved, it will need to appear on the ballot for voters to consider.
It is Trump’s 100th day in office, and Republicans in congress are continuing to work to pass budget legislation that would enshrine the 2017 Trump tax cuts into law while dedicating more money to border security, and cutting non-defense spending.
House Speaker Mike Johnson discussed the progress on that bill Tuesday.
“At the end of the day, I think what’s going to be great about this legislation, the reason it’s going to be so consequential, the reason it’s going to be the biggest legislation, I think, in many decades that congress has passed, is because not only are we going to give everybody a tax break, right? They’re now going to have the largest tax break in U.S. history, at the end of this year. It’s going to help hardworking families,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said.
Johnson indicated that Americans could feel the impacts of the legislation before the 2026 midterm elections.
“We’re going to get it done by Memorial Day, send it over there, they take a couple of weeks to work through that, we merge this together, we get this to the president’s desk quickly for a signature. Secretary Bessent said yesterday a big celebration by July 4. I hope it happens much sooner than that, and we’re going to keep pressing aggressively in the House to make sure that happens.”
The speaker said he hopes to include a deal to raise the debt limit in that legislation.
Some potential cold water on that timeline, though: Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina expressed skepticism that a bill could get done through the reconciliation process before July 4.
Trump works with automakers to increase U.S. production
The United States is working on a new deal with foreign automakers to help incentivize production within the country.
It comes after Trump said he would spare the industry from new tariffs on imports, giving them more time to adjust.
During a press briefing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new deal would align with the president’s plan to bring more production to the country.
“President Trump has had meetings with both domestic and foreign auto producers, and he’s committed to bringing back auto production to the U.S., so we want to give the automakers a path to do that quickly, efficiently, and create as many jobs as possible,” Bessent said.
Bessent declined to answer whether the U.S. and China are engaged in direct talks on a trade deal, saying China needs to compromise, because he believes the tariffs will be unsustainable for the Chinese economy.
He also indicated that the administration is very close to announcing a trade deal with India, saying that could happen in the next two weeks.
Amazon says move to display price increase from Trump tariffs is not happening after White House slams idea
Amazon is making clear it has no intention to display the added cost to products resulting from President Donald Trump’s tariffs on trading partners around the globe after the White House slammed the potential move on Tuesday.
In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle said the e-commerce giant had considered at one point listing import charges on certain products featured on Amazon Haul, its experience designed to connect consumers to affordable items at $20 or less, but never moved forward with the plan and has no intention of doing so.
“This was never approved and is not going to happen,” the statement from Doyle reads.
The development came just hours after press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to the possibility of such a plan, reported earlier Tuesday by Punchbowl News, as “hostile” and “political.” She noted she had just spoke with the president about the potential move.
“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,“ Leavitt said at an early morning briefing meant to highlight Trump’s economic accomplishments 100 days into his second term. “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?”
Leavitt accused the e-commerce giant of working with China to push its messaging, referring to a 2021 report from Reuters and holding up a printed picture of the article in what perhaps signaled a readiness to answer a question on the topic. She painted the situation overall as “another reason” consumers should support American companies.
“It's another reason why we are onshoring critical supply chains here at home, to shore up our own critical supply chain and boost our own manufacturing,” Leavitt said.
Despite Trump promising to lower costs on the campaign trail, some economists and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have warned that the president’s sweeping tariff agenda could raise prices and has the potential to worsen inflation.