WASHINGTON (AP) — More than half the House Democrats voted Wednesday to strip $3.3 billion in U.S. aid from Israel, the most substantial signal yet that once rock-solid bipartisan support for the country is disintegrating in the aftermath of its war in Gaza that has killed thousands of Palestinians.

The vote tally, 104-314, was not enough to attach the amendment to a broader national security spending bill, but stands as a stark accounting of the shifting attitudes that are dividing the Democratic Party and the nation over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war strategy, now approaching its third year.

The House’s Democratic leadership split over the issue in what was largely seen as a test vote ahead of the U.S. midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. More than 100 Democrats voted for the amendment to strip the foreign military aid money, and almost as many voted against. Most Republicans voted to preserve the Israel aid.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who announced he opposed the measure that would zero out the aid, insisted “that for the good of Israel and the Palestinian people, American policy in the Middle East must change.”

Jeffries said in a letter to colleagues, ahead of a private caucus meeting this week where the Israel issue dominated the debate, that he believes “there are more decisive ways to achieve the urgent change necessary when it comes to the far-right Netanyahu government.”

The deepening divide over Israel threatens to upend the Democratic Party as it faces an energized left flank that is promoting self-proclaimed democratic socialists in a handful of marquee House races, particularly last month in New York.

While more traditional Democrats have stood with U.S. support for Israel, a growing number have distanced themselves from Netanyahu’s strategy since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

The Democratic Whip, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, announced she would support the measure to withhold the funds.

Republicans have seized on the divide to portray Democrats as being overtaken by their more radical far-left elements, even as House Speaker Mike Johnson faces divisions within his own ranks as President Donald Trump’s most ardent America First Republicans lean toward less foreign military spending.

According to an AP-NORC poll this month, about one-third of U.S. adults — including roughly half of Democrats — believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza, an accusation that’s been leveled by some human rights organizations and vehemently denied by Israel and the U.S. government.

The amendment to strip Israel’s foreign aid was offered by Rep. Thomas Massie, the libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican who lost his own bid for reelection after Trump backed his challenger.

During the floor debate, Massie said the $3.3 billion could be better spent at home on U.S. roads, bridges and veterans’ needs, especially as national deficits are on the rise. He said the American weapons were used on “oftentimes innocent civilians.”

“I think we should stop it — we should put them on a diet,” Massie said.

But Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, himself a former party leader, championed longtime support of Israel and warned against withdrawing U.S. aid.

“I rise in strong opposition to this amendment, which would dangerously undermine American national security,” Hoyer said. He said it would limit the United States’ ability to confront terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, which he said “expressly target American citizens and military personnel.”

The lawmakers were feeling pressure from all sides as they prepare for midterm elections this fall.

The powerful American-Israel group AIPAC encouraged its supporters to contact members of Congress to register their opposition.

“We must ensure his dangerous amendment is defeated,” AIPAC said in a statement ahead of the vote.

At the same time, the progressive advocacy organization J Street gave lawmakers more leeway to express their views, as Jeffries did, even as the group opposed the amendment as poorly drafted and overly broad.

President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in a statement that J Street recognizes “that, for many Democrats, this is one of the few opportunities to cast a recorded vote expressing opposition to the way American military assistance and American-supplied weapons have been used by the Israeli government in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and elsewhere.”

He said that what unites the majority of Democrats “is far more significant” than this vote as they work to support “the security and rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.”

NEW YORK (AP) — George Santos has worn many hats: Swindler, congressman, prison inmate, podcast host. The obvious next gig? Reality TV show contestant.

In September, Santos will appear on the fifth season of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” a grueling contest where participants will be subjected to chemical gassing and other military themed challenges in a Malaysian jungle, the network announced Wednesday.

“I took my fat behind off the coach and tried something new!,” Santos wrote in a post on X along with a promotional image of himself standing next to a tree with a stern expression on his face. “And it changed EVERYTHING! I can’t wait to share this experience with y’all!”

He will go up against more than a dozen other contestants — including former NBA player Matt Barnes and actor Ruby Rose — in a show Fox has billed as the “ultimate test of physical, mental and emotional resilience.”

Santos was elected to the House from New York in 2022 as a Republican, but he wound up serving less than a year in the office after it was revealed he had fabricated much of his life story. He was expelled from Congress while facing criminal charges over stealing from donors and his campaign, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits and lying to Congress about his wealth.

He pleaded guilty but had his sentence commuted by President Donald Trump after serving around 84 days in prison. He later tried to reboot his political career with another run for the House but quickly abandoned the run after raising no money.

Last month, Kalshi, the online prediction marketplace, reported him to federal authorities after he boasted he would be going to Trump’s State of the Union address, then allegedly bet against his own attendance. That caused Polymarket, another online prediction platform where he was working in an influencer capacity, to end its paid relationship with him. Santos has said the allegation is “preposterous.”

He did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.

Among the challenges on Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” according to the network, were a claustrophobic search of an underground bunker and a supply load retrieval while suspended high above the jungle floor.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance says the Trump administration “absolutely” mishandled the communications surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files.

During a lengthy podcast interview with Joe Rogan released Wednesday, Vance pointed largely to former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who infamously stated that an alleged “client list” of Epstein’s was “sitting on my desk right now.” Epstein was a convicted sex offender who was known for his wide web of connections to the world’s elite.

In addition to those comments, the Justice Department under Bondi had also offered conservative commentators and influencers binders that were called “The Epstein files: Phase 1″ and “Declassified.”

“I know Pam. I like Pam. I don’t think there was anything malicious going on,” Vance told Rogan. “I think Pam was trying to respond to the political moment. I think she overstated what we had and what we didn’t have.”

As a result, Vance said, Bondi was “roasted” publicly for it and led people to “mistrust” the administration’s transparency efforts on the Epstein files.

“We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. Like, we just did,” Vance said. “But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No.”

The controversy over the Epstein files dogged the administration for much of last year, with lawmakers eventually passing a measure that compelled the release of a massive trove of documents in the government’s possession related to its investigations of the disgraced financier. The Justice Department began releasing the documents in late December, which included photos, call logs, grand jury testimony and interview transcripts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world has largely viewed the U.S. more favorably than China for years, but those opinions have flipped in Beijing’s favor this year, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center, a remarkable shift driven in part by tensions between the Trump administration and U.S. allies.

More people have favorable views of China than the U.S. in 25 out of the 36 countries and territories that were surveyed, including Canada and Mexico. The poll was conducted from February to May, a period when the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran.

In only six countries do people still see the U.S. more positively than China, according to the findings released Wednesday.

Views in 22 out of the 36 countries and territories also are more favorable of Chinese leader Xi Jinping than U.S. President Donald Trump, including in Canada, Mexico and major European powers including France, Germany and the U.K. However, people in many of the countries have low confidence in both men.

It marks the first time in the roughly 20 years Pew has been tracking global opinions that China has been viewed more positively than the U.S., said Laura Silver, associate director of Pew’s Global Attitudes Research and one of the researchers on the study. Views of Beijing and Washington have been very similar at some points in the past but have not been significantly more favorable for China until now, she said.

The shift follows the COVID-19 pandemic becoming a distant issue and as global views of the U.S. have soured, Silver said.

“There was just an actual relationship between the outbreak of the war and the sense that the U.S. is just not contributing to peace and stability and that people have less confidence in Donald Trump,” she said.

Trump’s demands to control Greenland, the American military raid that captured Venezuela’s then-leader Nicolás Maduro, and the U.S. handling of the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza also have led to low approval in many countries, Silver said.

“The U.S. has done a lot in terms of global engagement in recent months to years that is not being perceived positively internationally,” she said.

Aside from benefiting from the fading memory of the pandemic, China appears to have gained from comparison with the U.S., Silver said.

“By comparison, we know that China is seen to be a more reliable partner in many places. It’s more likely to be seen to contribute to global peace and stability,” the researcher said.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said the latest poll “demonstrates that China’s governance achievements and development progress are widely recognized.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Notably, those in some U.S. allied countries have drastically shifted their views in recent years, such as Canada. In the new survey, only 33% of Canadians have positive views of the U.S., down from 57% in 2023. Over the same period, their favorable opinions of China rose from 14% to 44%.

Trump slapped a barrage of tariffs on Canadian goods last year, and even claimed that Canada could be the “the 51st state.”

Major European countries — including France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy — all have switched their opinions toward the world’s two largest economies.

People in the U.K., where about 6 in 10 held positive views of the U.S. in 2023, now view China and the U.S. similarly. Three years ago, the spread was 32 percentage points in Washington’s favor.

Of the six countries where people have more favorable views of the U.S., Israel leads the way. About 8 in 10 Israelis view the U.S. positively, compared with 19% for China.

The other five countries are Japan, India, South Korea, the Philippines and Poland. Still, even their views of the U.S. have dimmed over recent years.

The U.S. is still ahead of China when it comes to government respect for personal freedoms, though the gap is shrinking, the Pew report says.

While China’s standing has improved somewhat, the narrowed divide is “driven largely by the fact that people in nearly every country surveyed have become less likely to say the U.S. government respects its people’s personal freedoms” since 2021, when Pew last asked the question.

For the new study, Pew surveyed more than 42,000 people across 35 countries plus the West Bank and east Jerusalem, with margins of error ranging from 2.3 to 5.5 percentage points depending on the country.

___

Associated Press journalists Linley Sanders, Emily Swanson and Kevin S. Vineys contributed to this report.

By Ann Saphir

July 15 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh this week declared his determination to bring inflation down without hinting at how, even as colleagues publicly laid out their own views on the economic outlook and interest rates.

The contrast highlights the difficulty of gauging how the Fed may react as renewed conflict in the Middle East again drives up the cost of fuel and AI investment continues to push up prices.

It also shows Warsh’s own challenges as he tries to reshape the central bank’s communications with an eye to quieting what he sees as an overcommunicative group of colleagues. 

“We want to get policy right, and I think being somewhat more circumspect in our communications, at least for me, is a better way of calling balls and strikes,” Warsh told members of the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.

More than a dozen times that day and the next, when he testified before the Senate Banking Committee, Warsh reiterated his view that inflation was too high, telling U.S. Senator John Kennedy at one point, “It’s not going to be permanent under my watch.”

“What are you going to do about it?” asked Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican.

“We’re going to look at our tools and the changing economy, both balance sheet and interest rate, and see whether we need to adjust policy to take it head on,” Warsh said, giving away nothing on what he would need to see to precipitate action.

“What are your options?” Kennedy pressed as he ticked off the possibilities — leave rates alone, raise them, or lower them — each of which Warsh agreed was an option, before suggesting none might be.

“You use five task forces to get to the big and hard questions instead of trying to paper it over with policies that have not been proven a success,” Warsh said, referring to the outside-expert-led panels he has convened to recommend changes to how the Fed conducts monetary policy, including its communications, by December.

Fed policymakers next meet in less than two weeks and will convene three more times before the end of the year.

Warsh said AI-driven price pressures, increasingly a worry cited by his colleagues, would likely increase “measured prices” over the next 12 months, but “whether that’s inflationary or not, that’s up to the Federal Reserve, and we’re going to have something to say about that.” 

Warsh’s “answers on inflation remain puzzling, as does the fact that it is not clear what, if anything, he would be prepared to do to tackle inflation, other than ‘having something to say about it,'” said Omair Sharif, the founder and president of forecasting firm Inflation Insights. 

COLLEAGUES OUTLINE POLICY VIEWS

Warsh’s colleagues by comparison were far more forthcoming about what they often call their “reaction function,” an accounting of how they would respond to a given set of economic conditions. 

“I see it as prudent to give a bit more time to observe how inflation unfolds from here,” Fed Governor Lisa Cook told the Exchequer Club of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, adding that she sees the risk of higher inflation from the investment boom around artificial intelligence, price pressures from tariffs, and the war in the Middle East.

“If we do not see signs of disinflation soon, I am prepared to act,” Cook said, a clear reference to the possibility of a Fed rate hike.

New York Fed President John Williams offered a more sanguine view, noting on Wednesday that while “inflation is unquestionably too high at about 4% …  there are encouraging reasons to expect that inflation has peaked and should edge down in coming quarters.” 

Policy, he said, is “well-positioned,” a phrase central bankers typically use to mean they see no reason to change it.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller, speaking before data this week showed year-over-year consumer inflation had cooled in June to 3.5% from 4.2% in May, said Monday that he would need to see “several months” of easing inflation to feel confident that inflation is heading towards the Fed’s 2% goal. 

More remarks from Fed policymakers are due before the Fed’s regular pre-meeting communications blackout begins on Saturday, with both Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson due to speak on Thursday.

WARSH URGES MARKETS TO WATCH DATA

Warsh continues to advocate not telling financial markets much.

“There are plenty of people on Wall Street who are upset with me already that I’m somehow not feeding them all the information they’ve gotten before, and if they only had my dot, everything would be swell,” he said on Wednesday, referring to the Fed’s quarterly publication of policymakers’ rate-path views, rendered as anonymized “dots” on a closely watched chart. 

The dot plot in June showed half of Warsh’s 18 colleagues expect a rate hike by year end; Warsh did not submit a dot of his own. His message to markets, he said, is to watch the economic data, not pronouncements from Fed policymakers. “Play the ball, not the Fed,” he said. 

So far Warsh’s colleagues appear to disagree. Fed policymakers need to connect the dots between their economic outlooks and their expectations for rates, Williams said Wednesday, a view that Waller, who has been open about his policy differences with Warsh, has also pressed. 

“There’s no change in that at all, and I think that that provides … that rich kind of set of perspectives of the 19 participants in the committee sharing their views,” Williams said. 

(Reporting by Ann Saphir in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Dan Burns in New York and Howard Schneider in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

By Trevor Stynes

ATLANTA, July 15 (Reuters) – England’s Harry Kane was gutted after his side conceded two late goals to lose to Argentina in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday, and the captain said they tried to hold on after going ahead but it was just not enough.

England took the lead through Anthony Gordon’s 55th-minute goal, but came under enormous pressure as Argentina drove forward. Enzo Fernandez netted the equaliser and Lautaro Martinez scored the winner in added time.

“We played a good game for the large majority of it. Once we went 1-0 up, we seemed to just try and hold on,” Kane told the BBC.

“At this level, it’s not enough, so just gutted, gutted because we’ve worked so hard to be here and the lads have given every last bit of running, sweat, blood, tears, whatever it is.

“After the goal, whether it was them putting more men forward or us just not being able to match them man for man, it just was wave after wave and we were trying to hold on as we were putting blocks in.

“But in the end, it wasn’t enough.” 

England have not reached a World Cup final since winning the trophy in 1966, and Thomas Tuchel’s side came so close but ultimately were left with the same old sinking feeling.

“The boys are always ready for any moment in the game. When we went ahead, the messaging was to go again and get another goal,” Kane said.

“Then obviously once they scored their two goals, it was to try and find something, but we couldn’t quite get the momentum back in the game.

“We had a lot of good moments in this tournament. A lot of good games, another semi-final. We talk about knocking on the door. We’re close, we just need to find that missing piece in the final stage of the tournament. 

“Just gutted for the boys, gutted for everyone, the team, the staff, the fans.” 

(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)

July 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Mint will begin producing $1 coins with President Donald Trump’s face on the front as part of its commemoration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday.

The design, which also features the words “Liberty,” “In God We Trust” and “1776-2026” on the front and an image of the bald eagle from the presidential seal on the back was a revision from a draft made public in October. The rear face of that design showed Trump holding a raised clenched fist framed with the words “fight, fight, fight,” a reference to the 2024 assassination attempt against him.

Trump said he was “honored” by the coin.

“They gave me a coin,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business. “That’s very unusual from what I understand.”

Critics have raised questions about the design’s legality. An 1866 U.S. law mandates that no living person’s portrait can be used on U.S. currency, but that refers to paper money produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Coins are minted by the U.S. Mint.

Congress in 2020 passed a law allowing the Treasury Secretary to mint $1 coins to mark the 250th anniversary, but that law forbade designs portraying a living person. 

The U.S. Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Christian Martinez; Editing by Stephen Coates)

July 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. aviation sector urged Congress on Wednesday to provide $20 billion to complete a massive effort ​to modernize America’s aging air traffic control system and reduce systemic flight disruptions.

An aviation coalition including airlines, airplane manufacturers, unions and others said the $20 billion is needed to replace or upgrade hundreds of aging air traffic control facilities, deploy state-of-the-art technologies for controllers and to develop advanced airspace traffic management tools to improve safety and reduce delays.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)

By David Shepardson and David Morgan

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate is reviewing a bill passed by the House to make daylight saving time permanent but it is unclear if it has enough support to become law, the top Senate Republican said Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said it was not clear whether the daylight saving bill could garner the 60 votes needed for passage in the chamber.

“We’re looking at it. You know the House had a big vote. There’s a lot of interest in it from members on our side over here. Some for, some against,” the South Dakota Republican told reporters. Asked whether he could support the legislation, Thune replied: “I’m from a northern clime. I voted against it in committee.”

The House of Representatives passed the measure in a 308-117 vote to end the twice-yearly practice of changing clocks observed across most of the nation since the 1960s.

If enacted, clocks would no longer return to standard time in November, although states could opt out of year-round daylight saving time if they do not currently observe it or voted to adopt permanent standard time before the law was changed.

Supporters say changing the clocks disrupts sleep, increases workplace injuries and contributes to more road accidents. They argue keeping clocks an hour ahead year-round would provide more evening daylight and boost economic activity during the winter months.

Critics note the change would mean the sun rises an hour later on winter mornings, leaving more children traveling to school and commuters, construction workers, farmers and others heading to work before daylight. In some places the sun would not rise until nearly 9 a.m. or later at the height of winter.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for an end to the twice-yearly clock changes and strongly supports the measure. 

The bill faces opposition from Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, and others. Cotton has argued that permanent daylight saving time would result in very late winter sunrises and force children in many parts of the country to go to school in darkness.

The U.S. used year-round daylight saving time during World War Two and enacted it again in 1974 to reduce energy use. But it proved deeply unpopular and Congress repealed it later that year.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Katharine Jackson; editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)

By Andrew Hay

July 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday said it was prohibited by law from releasing unredacted files on Jeffrey Epstein requested by New Mexico, escalating a feud between the nation’s top legal agency and state officials investigating the late sex offender.

It came after New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez released a letter on Tuesday accusing the DOJ of deliberately obstructing the state’s criminal probe of Epstein by failing to hand over the files.

“Federal law, court orders, and privacy protections for victims and witnesses do not allow us to release millions of unredacted documents,” a U.S. Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement. “We will continue to follow federal law and the court orders that are in place.”

In February, the Democratic-run state re-opened an investigation into activities at Epstein’s former ranch, south of the capital Santa Fe, where he is accused of abusing women and girls for nearly three decades.

In response to the state’s request that month for unredacted files, Torrez said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Mexico on July 10 provided 31 pages of documents that had already been made public, contained redacted material that was unusable or were photocopies of local news stories.

“It is a reflection of a deliberate choice not to cooperate,” Torrez wrote in the Tuesday letter. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

New Mexico’s state legislature is running a parallel investigation — last month, it subpoenaed U.S. attorneys’ offices in three states and the U.S. Virgin Islands for information on whether and why they chose not to prosecute Epstein.

The legislature’s “Truth Commission” is expected to release an interim report this month. Torrez has yet to announce any findings. 

Pressure from victims and advocates on the DOJ to release the Epstein files in their entirety has dogged ​President Donald Trump, who has said the country should move on.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by David Gregorio)