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Quake survivors in southwestern Japan sleep in cars in sweltering heat as death toll rises to 34 YATSUSHIRO, Japan (AP) — Thousands of survivors of a powerful earthquake in southwestern Japan spent Friday in crowded shelters or sleeping in cars as they faced shortages of water and fuel and punishing summer temperatures that stoked fears of heat-related illness. https://apnews.com/article/japan-earthquake-kumamoto-mall-factory-b0d6e9cd8f27b09590bbe49f4a701eb6?

Trump announces a deal for Hamas to disarm in Gaza President Donald Trump announced Thursday what he said was an agreement that would also include Israel withdrawing its forces from Gaza, but hurdles and uncertainty remain. Read more. Why this matters: The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza. On Friday, a Hamas official said they have reached an agreement on disarmament. Israel didn’t give an indication that they had agreed. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Israelis worry about weakening connection with younger Jewish Americans Palestinian authorities ask US Supreme Court to halt $656M judgment pending appeal Major oil companies reap massive profits as US and Iran fighting drives energy prices higher

Trump administration ends Medicare drug subsidy Around 25 million older adults with Medicare Part D prescription drug plans could face steeper monthly costs in 2027 after the Trump administration concluded a temporary subsidy program that has helped offset premiums for the past two years. Read more. What to know: The program was initially implemented by the Biden administration in 2024 to lower patients’ Part D prescription drug costs in response to effects of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. While federal officials insist the financial impact on Medicare beneficiaries will be minimal, Democrats slammed the move as part of a pattern of federal attacks on healthcare affordability. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Senate committee advances nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz to be Trump’s CDC director Trump floats pulling Blanche’s nomination for attorney general to avoid conceding to GOP demands US cites ‘unauthorized travel’ to end DACA status for a mother of 3 deported to Mexico Scouting America drops diversity initiatives from event after pressure from the Pentagon Democratic candidates grapple with past stances on defunding the police ahead of key midterm races Mandela Barnes drops out of the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor Trump-branded commemorative passports will become available across the US

July 31, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. President Trump said his “Board of Peace” had reached a disarmament deal in Gaza. “For the first time, Hamas officially has committed to an actionable plan for relinquishing all its weapons, which will be followed by Israeli withdrawal from Gaza,” the board said. Neither side commented publicly. We have more news below. I’m going to start with the United States Coast Guard. The New York Times In the surf Dave Philipps, who covers the United States military and veterans for The Times, has spent the past few years focused on the brain injuries suffered by members of elite and specialized units. He’s written about artillery crews who repeatedly fire high-powered cannons and about SEALs who do the same with shoulder-fired rockets. He’s written about what happens to the brains of fighter pilots who catapult from aircraft carriers, and to those of fast-boat crews who pound across the ocean. And now he’s turned his attention to the crews of Coast Guard rescue boats, who work and train in heavy, crashing seas in order to save lives. They’re called surfmen, and their work is among the most challenging and dangerous jobs in the service. It is work that comes at a cost, Dave reports. They take a beating from the ocean. Many veteran surfmen experience headaches, memory lapses, anxiety attacks, nightmares, mood swings and cognitive problems that can be symptoms of brain injuries. “A 20-foot wave breaking on you is like being in a car crash,” a surfman named Aaron Harris told him. “If you are out training in big surf, that’s like 20 car accidents a day.” Harris was on the boats for 22 years, before retiring in 2024. The surfmen are alone, Dave discovered. The Coast Guard has no regular testing protocol for brain injuries. It delivers no formal briefings on the dangers of pounding waves. The website it maintains on brain injuries is more than 10 years old. Dave found that many of the links that appear under a heading reading “Where to get help” are inactive. The surfmen suffer, and their families suffer, and the results can be fatal. Brett Bonner, 1982-2025 Brett Bonner served in the U.S. Coast Guard for 21 years. Mike Belleme for The New York Times Dave’s story explores the life and death of a surfman named Brett Bonner, who saved hundreds of lives during his 21 years driving rescue boats. Bonner developed post-traumatic stress disorder during his service, and his life unraveled after he retired in 2022. Here’s Dave: He struggled to make decisions. Even ordering at a drive-through was overwhelming. He grew paranoid. He was sure his father-in-law, who lived next door, was out to get him and punched him over a minor disagreement about new closet doors. In February 2025, Bonner shot himself. His wife and four children saw it happen. He left no note. Bonner’s eldest child, Kayleigh, is now 18. After her father’s death, she did something remarkable. Seeking some understanding of what had happened to her dad, and whether it had anything to do with his work in the unrelenting surf, she decided to send questionnaires to as many surfmen as she could locate. Her survey asked 36 questions about their time in the service and their health during and after it. Jenna Bonner, left, and her daughter, Kayleigh Bonner, 18, Mike Belleme for The New York Times Nearly 80 active and retired surfmen responded, and a vast majority reported symptoms similar to her father’s. They had headaches. Sleeplessness. Their memories were shot. Anxiety stalked them. Their moods swung, hard. Some were getting worse. “My brain has started to fail me. I feel it, I see it,” one responder in his early 50s wrote. “It is difficult to do things that used to be natural to me.” “It has been a struggle for me to keep my life together,” another in his mid-40s wrote. Kayleigh wrote up the results of her study as a senior-year high school research project. It earned an A. (I’d have gone A+.) Dave reports that she plans to share her findings with the Coast Guard. Breaking the cycle Yesterday I reached out to Dave to ask him what to make of his reporting. Not just about the Coast Guard surfmen, but also about the Navy pilots and boat skippers and SEALS and Army mortar soldiers and all those who’ve been exposed, repeatedly, to concussive blasts in service to the nation, and who’ve been left with injured brains. Here’s what he told me: I think the big takeaway is that these injuries are preventable. There never needs to be another story like Brett Bonner’s, even if we will always need Coast Guard crews to brave rough waters. On these motor lifeboats, most of the damaging exposure occurs during training, not in emergencies. The same is true in the rest of the military. That is both infuriating and a stroke of good luck, because training is a controlled environment. We can change it to limit damage. If anything is going to change, though, the first step is recognizing that there is a problem. That has been tricky because these types of brain injuries develop slowly and often resemble other mental health problems. For decades the military has been stuck in a cycle where it doesn’t see these injuries as a problem, and therefore isn’t on the lookout for them. I hope the reporting The Times has done can break that cycle. Please read the complete article here. I’ve only scratched its surface. (Not a subscriber? Not a problem. The click is free.) THE LATEST NEWS Europe On Ceuta. Antonio Sempere/Associated Press Spain mobilized its military after thousands of migrants crossed — some swimming — to Ceuta, a Spanish-governed peninsula on Morocco’s coast. Climate change is an important factor in Europe’s wildfires. So is the continent’s shift away from farming, experts say. A wildfire on the Greek island of Crete has forced thousands of people to flee and killed two firefighters, the latest in a series of blazes that have charred Europe this summer. On Crete. Costas Metaxakis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images War in Ukraine Russia pounded Ukrainian cities with a barrage of missiles and drones that killed at least eight people. With the attacks, Russia set a record for the country’s ballistic missile attacks in a single month. During the assault, a Russian missile crashed in Poland. The episode raised the possibility of a confrontation with NATO. Trump Administration Simon Ducroquet/The New York Times An appeals court is still considering the legality of President Trump’s White House ballroom project. Yet construction is racing ahead, as these photos show. The Trump administration exempted natural diamonds from its latest batch of tariffs, after negotiations and a gift to Trump of a ring encrusted with 321 diamonds from a trade group in Belgium. Trump says he may temporarily withdraw his nomination of Todd Blanche to be attorney general. Two Republicans have threatened to block Blanche’s confirmation. More on Politics Jim Vondruska for The New York Times Elon Musk says that he plans to spend at least $100 million on the midterm elections to help Republicans. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he supported reparations for some Black New Yorkers but said it was too early to commit to direct cash payments. Texas parents are suing to remove Ten Commandments posters from classrooms. Other Big Stories Anthropic revealed that its artificial intelligence systems broke into computers at three outside organizations, heightening fears about the technology’s safety. U.S. economic growth slowed in the last quarter, pulled down by the higher prices and supply chain disruptions caused by the war in Iran. The father of a teenager who killed four people at a Georgia high school was sentenced to 15 years in prison over his son’s attack. The son was sentenced to life earlier this week. OPINIONS Maggie Haberman spoke to Ezra Klein about DOGE, Iran and her new book with Jonathan Swan on Trump’s second term, “Regime Change.” Vivek Ramaswamy could be the Republican Party’s future. But first he has to win, Lydia Polgreen writes. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS We’ve made these links free for you. Scott Semler for The New York Times Semi-sweets: Candies marketed as “better-for-you” have taken over grocery stores and found their way into gyms and supplement shops. But are they actually healthy? T.S.A. surprise: Officers at an Alabama airport discovered five Civil War-era cannonballs inside a passenger’s checked luggage. It’s a … whale: A drone off the coast of Australia captured what is believed to be the first-ever aerial footage of a humpback whale giving birth. See the video. Your pick: The most clicked story in The Morning yesterday was about toxic wastewater bubbling out of the ground in Ohio. TODAY’S NUMBER An Airbus plane. James D. Morgan/Getty Images 22 — That is how many hours it could take to fly nonstop between Sydney and London when Qantas launches a new flight next year, aboard specially manufactured Airbus jets. The route would become the world’s longest commercial flight. SPORTS FIFA announced plans to allow private investment in its tournaments. In response, European nations threatened to boycott the World Cup. W.N.B.A.: The Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton was suspended and fined by the league after an exchange with two teenage girls regarding transgender athletes. RECIPE OF THE DAY Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. Kristina Felix’s recipe for spicy tuna and avocado tostadas is aces high, a cross between tuna salad and guacamole that makes for a perfect dinner on a hot summer night. Kristina uses canned tuna in oil for the protein, which makes the dish cheap and accessible. But if you happen to run in tuna-fishing circles and someone gives you a fat loin off a fish caught earlier that morning? Use that instead and experience nirvana. ON COMEDY Mary Beth Barone in “Galaxy Brain.” Netflix The comic Mary Beth Barone has a new special out on Netflix, “Galaxy Brain.” Jason Zinoman, our comedy critic, calls it “darkly ironic, a pleasingly prickly hour, equal parts wry and righteous.” She ends the performance, Jason writes, by calling for a grass-roots women’s movement to win the next election: Step 1: On dating apps, stop swiping right on men with more conservative politics. “I did the math,” she said. “If every single woman has sex with about 1,000 moderates” — Barone pauses, clenches her fists intensely and flashes the most deluded-looking smile of the show — “we might be able to win this thing!” More on culture Flaco’s back! Alissa Wilkinson reviews the director Penny Lane’s new documentary, “Wild Inside,” a collective tribute to a celebrity owl and the city that loved him. Sadie Stein, an editor on our Book Review, reread the Laura Ingalls Wilder “Little House” series she’d taken in as a child. Once a Pa supporter, she now finds herself firmly Team Ma. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Move to Fremont, California. By one account, it is the happiest city in America. Stay hydrated and you’ll reduce your headache risk. Cop a squat on the sidelines of Junior’s next soccer game in this excellent camping chair tested by the peripatetic seating investigators at Wirecutter. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was toughen. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. I’ll be on vacation for the next two weeks, experiencing a life of magic and chores. My colleagues will write to you while I’m gone. Stay frosty. — Sam Correction: We wrote yesterday that the Washington Dulles International Airport is in Washington. It is actually in Virginia. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

The Failed Developer Behind ICE’s Billion-Dollar Prison Deals Last summer, business was looking bad for hotshot Boston developer James Grossmann. His flashy new construction company, Rise Construction Management, had begun to spiral into financial ruin. That June, a bank sued Grossmann when he failed to repay a $25 million loan — just one of a mounting number of lawsuits he and his firm were facing from frustrated creditors. https://www.levernews.com/the-failed-developer-behind-ices-billion-dollar-prison-deals/?

THIS DAY IN HISTORY July 31 1975 Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing On the morning of July 31, 1975, James Riddle Hoffa, one of the most influential American labor leaders of the 20th century, is officially reported missing after he failed to return home the previous night. Though he is popularly believed to have been the victim of a Mafia hit, conclusive evidence was never found and Hoffa’s fate remains a mystery. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 1970s 1973 Delta Flight 723 crashes in fog at Boston Logan American Revolution 1777 Marquis de Lafayette becomes a major-general without pay Natural Disasters & Environment 1715 Hurricane sinks Spanish treasure ships Religion 1556 Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, dies Space Exploration 1964 Ranger 7 photographs moon World War I 1917 Third Battle of Ypres begins in Flanders World War II 1941 Preparations for the Final Solution begin

Tens of thousands of migrants voluntarily leave after crossing into Spanish territory of Ceuta CEUTA, Spain (AP) — Tens of thousands of migrants who crossed into Spain’s tiny Ceuta territory returned voluntarily to Morocco on Friday, a day after the influx triggered chaos in the North African city and reignited the immigration debate in Europe and beyond. At least 57 migrants died on the journey. https://apnews.com/article/spain-ceuta-migration-66839d113f24ba80d08b36d2b337201c? At least 18 die after thousands breach border between Morocco and Spanish territory of Ceuta The border crisis boiled over Thursday and overnight. Spain’s state broadcaster RTVE broadcast images of burned cars on the Moroccan side of the border after reported clashes. Read more. What to know: Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers association representing Civil Guard officers described the situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis.” It was not immediately clear what prompted so many migrants to cross to Ceuta. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Photos of migrants crossing WATCH: Spain deploys military to Ceuta What to know about Ceuta

Hobbie, The Romans didn't observe Sunday as a holy day any more than they observed Saturn's day (Saturday) as a holy day. In addition to this St. Justin Martyr was beheaded in Rome between 162 - 168 (for being a devout Christian unwilling to deny Christ) with most historians believing it happened in 165 under the prefectural term of Junius Rusticus - which was 107 years before Constantine was even born. If devout Christians were participating in Christian Mass on Sunday and being killed for their faith prior to Constantine doing what you said he did for the reasons you say he did how do you explain this?

Well if one looks, the Emperor Constantine decreed that dies Solis Invicti (‘sun-day,’ or Day of Sol Invictus, Roman God of the Sun) would be the Roman day of rest throughout the Roman Empire. In antiquity, Sunday was a special day in the heathen calendar, dedicated to the sun god. If you look to see what was sun worship Britannica gives this: Also known as: solar deity, sun god, sun goddess sun worship, veneration of the sun or a representation of the sun as a deity, as in Atonism in Egypt in the 14th century bce. Although sun worship has been used frequently as a term for “pagan” religion, it is, in fact, relatively rare. Though almost every culture uses solar motifs, only a relatively few cultures (Egyptian, Indo-European, and Meso-American) developed solar religions. All of these groups had in common a well-developed urban civilization with a strong ideology of sacred kingship. In all of them the imagery of the sun as the ruler of both the upper and the lower worlds that he majestically visits on his daily round is prominent. The sun is the bestower of light and life to the totality of the cosmos; with his unblinking, all-seeing eye, he is the stern guarantor of justice; with the almost universal connection of light with enlightenment or illumination, the sun is the source of wisdom. These qualities—sovereignty, power of beneficence, justice, and wisdom—are central to any elite religious group, and it is within these contexts that a highly developed solar ideology is found. Kings ruled by the power of the sun and claimed descent from the sun. Solar deities, gods personifying the sun, are sovereign and all-seeing. The sun is often a prime attribute of or is identified with the Supreme Deity.

I was thinking of that text too. Why did they prefer the swine? What was the alternative?

Now a question that poses itself is whether this is place the evil angels feared to be sent to this place of darkness to such a degree that they thus asked to be sent into the swine on the hill.. Matthew 8:31-32 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. Mark 5:12-13 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

🍔 1 for the road: Big Mac Index hits 40 Cover: The Economist The Big Mac Index — a clever project from The Economist that compares prices of McDonald's burgers in different countries — is turning 40. The index was created in 1986 as a thought experiment and has remained a semi-serious fixture for the magazine. 💡 How it works: McDonald's makes the Big Mac in a near-identical way everywhere, so its price acts as a rough gauge of whether a currency is undervalued or overvalued. Right now, the index shows the euro is overvalued against the dollar, while China's yuan and Japan's yen are undervalued. Interactive explainer ($).

🦾 Charted: Microsoft's $450 billion jump Data: FactSet. Chart: Matt Phillips/Axios Microsoft's surge in market cap yesterday — $450 billion — was apparently the biggest one-day gain in stock market history, according to a Bloomberg analysis. The company's stock rose 16% after its latest earnings report showed strong growth from its Azure cloud computing business — a sign that AI investments are paying off, Axios' Emily Peck writes.

💵 New data: What CEOs can't ignore Data: Brunswick Group and Echelon Insights. Chart: Sara Wise/Axios CEOs face an increasingly skeptical American public that's laser-focused on affordability and fairness, Axios' Shane Savitsky writes from polling by the Brunswick Group and Echelon Insights, provided first to Axios. 41% of Americans surveyed said a topic linked to affordability (cost of living, the economy, jobs) is the biggest issue facing the country right now. Asked what they'd tell CEOs about life in America today, a quarter of respondents pointed to high costs. 23% cited greed or inequality. Full results ..

🗳️ Exclusive: Tracking online voter registration Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images The Trump administration has a new tactic for trying to isolate cases of alleged voter fraud — digging into the IP addresses of those who went online to register to vote, Axios' Brittany Gibson writes. The FBI recently obtained the IP address of someone who registered online in South Carolina, according to documents first shared with Axios. Why it matters: The bureau's request for the address, which state and local officials complied with, offers a glimpse of how federal authorities are stepping up their probe of voter rolls and registration practices under pressure from President Trump. It's unclear how often the FBI plans to take the extraordinary step of seeking IP addresses. But its push in South Carolina has broad implications nationwide: 43 states allow some form of online voter registration. An IP address would show a user's geographic location and service provider, but not their specific identity. It could tell whether the user was outside a state or even the U.S., for example. The big picture: As the bureau investigates South Carolina, ICE has been requesting voter data in Texas and North Carolina. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is trying to obtain voter rolls from states that have resisted sharing registration information, and is suing 30 states and D.C. for that access. Keep reading.

📉 Trump's second-term low Data: Silver Bulletin. Chart: Noah Bressner/Axios President Trump's net approval rating slipped to the lowest level of his second term yesterday, according to data from Nate Silver. ⛽ Trump's ratings improved earlier this month before dipping again over the last couple of weeks — a decline Silver notes coincides closely with rising gas prices and the resumption of the Iran war. The president's latest numbers: 38.2% approve and 58.8% disapprove, for a -20.6% net approval rating. More numbers.

🤖 Digital world disruption Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes in his weekly C-Suite newsletter: The way information shows up online is changing lightning fast, starting with the total collapse of Google Search as we know it. Why it matters: Google has basically stopped sending people to websites (including our site) for answers and information. Instead, it's using AI to answer them on its platform, in its words. 🧮 By the numbers: Chartbeat data shared with Axios shows Google Search traffic to publishers fell 34% over the past year. That pain is regressive. Over the past two years, small publishers lost 60% of referrals from search overall, medium publishers 47%, large publishers 22%. At the same time, LinkedIn, Reddit and other massive platforms are getting jammed with AI-created content, making it harder to stand out — or decipher real from fake. Substack announced a partnership with AI-detection software Pangram, specifically calling out LinkedIn while arguing that "platforms that reward fakeness will create a race to the bottom." 👓 What we're watching: Online businesses are already anticipating the shift to an LLM, ChatGPT-like world. It starts with GEO (generative engine optimization) — the term for shaping how content shows up inside LLMs like Claude and ChatGPT. This is the modern version of SEO. It's early, and it's a black box.

⚠️ Anthropic's AI breach Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios Some of Anthropic's most powerful models — including Mythos 5 and an internal research model — gained unauthorized access to real-world systems during pre-deployment cybersecurity testing, Axios' Sam Sabin writes. Why it matters: Anthropic's disclosure — a little over a week after OpenAI first revealed similar testing incidents — fuels concerns about what the world's most powerful AI models will do when guardrails come off. Anthropic said in a blog post that three of its models compromised real-world systems belonging to three organizations after a misunderstanding between the company and one of its testing partners left the evaluation environment connected to the internet. The incidents — which involved Opus 4.7, Mythos 5 and an internal research model not intended for general release — happened during evaluations run with a third-party testing partner. Anthropic reviewed more than 141,000 cybersecurity evaluation runs after OpenAI disclosed that several of its models accessed Hugging Face, a widely used platform for hosting AI models, during testing. 🔬 Between the lines: Unlike OpenAI's incident, Anthropic said its models did not exploit a zero-day vulnerability to gain internet access. Instead, internet access was available because of the testing environment's configuration. Similar to the OpenAI case, Anthropic was evaluating its models without the additional safeguards it deploys on publicly available models. Those guardrails would have blocked these behaviors, Anthropic said in its report. Anthropic explains: Incidents 1-3 ...

US stocks rise to finish a wild July as Amazon soars, Apple sinks and inflation worries worsen NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose Friday to finish a wild July for Wall Street as Amazon leaped, Apple sank and rising oil prices worsened worries about inflation staying high. https://apnews.com/article/stock-markets-rates-korea-ai-oil-e31b3a442bcb957a53f1823ef21e73e8?

Hanna-Barbera pitched The Flintstones to networks for 8 weeks before it was finally picked up. It became the first-ever animated show to air during primetime. James

🏞️ Parting shot! Photo: Matt Lasure Speaking of otherworldly ... Reader Matt Lasure of Saint Paul, Minn., shares a "Best National Park" submission: "One of my favorite pictures, showing the alien landscape of Badlands National Park [in South Dakota]. Taken on a family trip in July 2022."

A No-Win Situation View in browser Back in April, Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, wrote an op-ed celebrating the Trump administration’s efforts to get Americans off food stamps. Officially known as SNAP, the program has shed an estimated 6 million participants since Donald Trump’s return to office—a shift that Rollins argued could help break a “vicious cycle” of government dependence. The idea that too many people have come to rely on federal handouts has long been a line of attack against SNAP. Per the Department of Agriculture’s preliminary data from April, about 37 million low- and no-income people in the United States are on food stamps. That’s roughly one in 10 Americans, down from one in eight last year. The reduction is in line with the administration’s broader approach to social welfare. Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump has touted as one of his signature policy achievements, slashed funding to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. And its cuts to SNAP—tightening eligibility requirements and limiting the amount of aid that recipients might be able to collect in the future—were the largest in the program’s history. Food stamps will lose $186 billion in federal funding through 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates. But what Rollins has framed as a way to curtail waste, fraud, and abuse is already having far-reaching impacts on the Americans who rely on the program. Last week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank, suggested that “it’s very likely that the number of children receiving SNAP has dropped by more than 1.5 million since July 2025,” when the OBBBA became law. Inflation has been rising quickly this year, in part because of the Iran war, and the assault on food stamps is now compounding an ongoing affordability crisis. If states can’t meet the federal government’s new requirements for SNAP, they may have to take on a collective $9 billion in food-stamp costs themselves—forcing local legislators to make hard choices about which kinds of social-welfare programs, and which kinds of people, should receive aid. This past winter, when the White House decided to briefly stop funding SNAP during the government shutdown, Trump said that the program’s enrollment number was “many times what it should be.” It’s true that food-stamp enrollment—which tends to rise during moments of economic crisis and contract in moments of recovery—spiked substantially during the coronavirus pandemic as Congress temporarily increased benefit amounts, and enrollment still hasn’t reverted to its pre-2020 level. But stricter work requirements (homeless people and veterans are no longer exempt, for example) and reductions in federal funding have helped drive down SNAP enrollment at a vertiginous moment. Most people, whether on food stamps or not, are cutting back on groceries. And no other institution “is going to swoop in and provide these financial resources” to families struggling to buy groceries, Lauren Bauer, a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, told me. In Arizona, the number of people with access to SNAP benefits has almost halved in less than a year—the biggest drop in any state. A recent New York Times report explains that the OBBBA’s cuts and updated rules have created “bureaucratic chaos” in the state, which has been exacerbated by a labyrinthian paperwork process and antiquated tech infrastructure. The fact that Arizona laid off a third of its caseworkers after losing a federal grant has also made it harder to verify who is and isn’t eligible for aid—and monthly visits to food banks have outpaced SNAP enrollment in the state for the first time, according to the Times. States have historically managed SNAP payments on their own; the federal government supplies the money for benefits and for some of the administrative costs. Critics of this arrangement have noted that the post-COVID swell in enrollments has coincided with an uptick in improper payments, most of which have historically been overpayments. In 2019, 7.4 percent of the payments SNAP doled out were made in error, according to the USDA; last year, the national error rate was 10.6 percent. The OBBBA puts states in a tough spot. When it went into effect, it gave most states until the end of September 2026 to get their error rates below 6 percent—a little more than a year. If they fail to do so, they will begin sharing the cost of food-stamp benefits with the White House in 2027 (Alaska and other states with higher error rates will have longer deadlines). The consequences will affect red and blue states alike, unlike some other Trump-backed economic initiatives. According to data released by the USDA last month, 41 states had error rates above the threshold in the 2025 fiscal year, and many are now scrambling to get those numbers down. California could end up paying roughly $1.9 billion if legislators don’t find a way to reduce the state’s rate by almost half, and Florida may need to pay $900 million, according to one estimate. Taking on those costs would require states to radically reshape their budgets, raise taxes, or find some other way to pay for SNAP—otherwise, their constituents may hold them accountable when the food-stamp payments stop coming. Officials in Alabama and Arizona have already considered ending the program, and, in an anonymous survey, four states identified “withdrawing and/or pausing from SNAP” as a potential risk. If states are able to lower their error rates, SNAP could be transformed for the better. But if they fail to do so by the fast-approaching deadline, it’s hard to see who wins: not food-stamp recipients, not the states that will have their budgets upended, and not the administration, which has been trying to convince Americans ahead of the midterms that it’s responding to their affordability concerns. Rollins has described SNAP as a “broken program,” but these changes aren’t guaranteed to restore trust in the system. Instead, the push to repair SNAP could end up breaking it even more. Related: The deadline for a major shutdown casualty The new food-stamp rules will make your head spin.

📔 Trump's Senate playbook President Trump has three go-to moves for GOP senators who frustrate him: persuade them when he can, ignore them when he must and bully them at will. Why it matters: The approach doesn't always produce results. But it almost always provides drama. 🥕 Persuade: Trump dispatched two top deputies to the Senate GOP lunch yesterday to make the case, in person, for a third reconciliation bill with elements of the SAVE Act. Then he sent in the big guns. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles huddled with the Senate GOP leaders shortly after their lunch. When Trump faced a Senate rebuke over the Iran conflict last month, the White House aggressively lobbied wavering Republicans to flip their votes. Ignore: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche doesn't need Senate confirmation to do the job, Trump declared on Truth Social today. He can serve as acting attorney general indefinitely. Problem solved. 🥊 Bully: Trump began the week by demanding that Majority Leader John Thune scrap the filibuster and pass the SAVE Act. "Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH!" Trump wrote. 👀 What we're watching: Bullying appeared to be Trump's preferred tactic this week. By yesterday, he was openly questioning whether Thune should remain majority leader. Thune's best defense was to downplay his own powers. 🪄 "He thinks I can wave the magic wand," Thune told Politico. "I wish it were that easy." Trump's penchant for bullying has emboldened some senators to stand their ground — such as John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who have blocked Blanche's nomination. Both will be out of the Senate in January. 🔎 Zoom in: Trump's anger with the Senate keeps flaring, despite Thune's success in rapidly confirming his nominees. With Jay Clayton's confirmation as director of national intelligence, the GOP-led Senate has confirmed 515 of Trump's nominees — with another batch of 74 on the way. 👟 That's a faster pace than the first administration and leaves only a handful of civilian nominations remaining on the Executive Calendar. Trump now has the authority to install many of the remaining nominees in acting roles across the federal government. 🌎 Zoom out: With one week left before the August recess, Senate Republican vibes are going from bad to worse. New polls show Americans continuing to sour on the GOP. The MAGA base is still enraged over the SAVE Act. Everything from the NDAA to crypto legislation is hitting roadblocks. And Trump doesn't appear interested in easing the pressure on his own party. The bottom line: Trump reserves the right to toggle among his three approaches, depending on his needs and mood. And while he can ignore the Senate on some personnel, he can't ignore it on legislation. He still needs 50 votes — or, in some cases, 60. "When crazy becomes the norm, it feels pretty routine," one GOP senator told us. — Hans Nichols and Stef W. Kight

How long can it take to become a US citizen? For some immigrants, becoming a US citizen takes a few years. For others, limited visa availability and annual country caps mean waiting decades before even applying. https://usafacts.org/articles/how-long-can-it-take-to-become-a-us-citizen/?

Senate committee advances nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz to be Trump's CDC director A Senate committee on Thursday advanced Dr. Erica Schwartz’s nomination to be director of the nation’s top public health agency, setting aside concerns that she will not stand up to political meddling. Read More. 🍳 Big four get panned Data: CNN/SSRS poll; Chart: Kathleen Hunter/Axios None of Congress' top four leaders came close to breaking even on their net favorability ratings in a new poll, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer lodging by far the most negative reviews. 😡 Why it matters: Schumer could face pressure to step down as leader after the November midterms amid criticism from the party's progressive base. 44% of respondents in the CNN/SSRS poll said they held an unfavorable opinion of Schumer, with 15% reporting a favorable opinion. In January 2017, it was an even split: 25% of poll respondents had a favorable view of Schumer and 25% an unfavorable one. 🚗 Driving the news: House Speaker Mike Johnson, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Thune also have seen their unfavorables trend upward in the CNN/SSRS poll. While Johnson's net favorability was up five percentage points since March, it's down nine percentage points from January 2025. Almost two-thirds of respondents — 63% — said they either had no opinion of or had not heard of Thune, while 52% said the same about Jeffries. That's higher than for Johnson and Schumer. 🤔 The intrigue: Former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) remains even less popular than the four current leaders. More than half of respondents, 53%, said they held an unfavorable view of McConnell, who has been absent from the Senate since mid-June after a fall at his D.C. home. Just 11% reported a favorable view. McConnell's lengthy absence and past health scares are fueling speculation about his capacity to serve. — Kathleen Hunter