President & GOP Deliver On "Big, Beautiful Bill" Passage
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I'm Kat Timpf. I'm Bill Hemmer. I'm Harris Faulkner. And this is the Fox News Rundown.

Friday, July 4th, 2025. I'm Jessica Rosenthal. This July 4th, the big beautiful bill has passed Congress in keeping with the president's timeline. But will the legislative victory turn into economic, border and cost saving wins as well? Yes, there are cuts to Medicaid, but it's for able bodied young men who are sitting at home doing nothing and collecting Medicaid or people who are in this country illegally collecting Medicaid. We speak with Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream. I'm Chris Foster.

Happy Independence Day. It's the greatest party in America for the Fourth of July. Alfonso Ribeiro's back hosting the Capitol Fourth concert and fireworks show in Washington. And I'm Howard Cusick. I've got the final word on the Fox News Rundown. ♪

It's July 4th, and President Trump got a present on America's birthday. The big, beautiful bill passed the House after the Senate passed the bill over the weekend. 218, the nays are 214. The motion is adopted.

The GOP could only afford to lose three votes, and it got two losses, Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick and Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey. But the vote came after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries broke the record for longest House floor speech at more than eight and a half hours long in protest against this bill. Medicare could be cut by more than $500 billion, and these earned benefits...

of the American people could be jeopardized. A day earlier, New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez promised catastrophe because of this bill. It explodes our national debt. It militarizes our entire economy and it strips away health care and basic dignity of the American people for what?

After Jeffries ended his more than eight and a half hour speech to delay the vote, Speaker Mike Johnson spoke, acknowledging that it got dicey there for a minute, that many more Republicans didn't appear to be on board as late as a day before. We have squabbles, we have partisan debates and all of this, but at the end of the day, we're all Americans, man. And we got to believe that. We got to know it. We got to recognize that we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. It's not even close. Yeah.

Republicans say this bill will help secure the border, cement tax cuts, no taxes on tips or overtime, fund the Golden Dome and protect Medicaid for those who need it. The president is scheduled to sign the bill this afternoon. And everyone on the GOP side says that President Trump is the closer of all time. And you'll hear that with respect to, you know, Middle East peace deals and trade deals and getting legislation done on the Hill. Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream.

He somehow has a touch for getting these things done. Now, there are a lot of questions about what were people promised? Are there more deals to come? Will things be revealed? I'm dying to know the inside scoop on some of these folks who were so hardline and said there was no way

they were ever voting for this bill. What kind of assurances did they get from the White House that brought them over to the yes column? Yeah, especially after the Senate changes. That seemed to really throw everybody for a loop. But just as quickly as that loop appeared, it got ironed out again, it appears. Shannon, Fox News polling showed people...

are not largely on board with the big, beautiful bill. I think our own polling showed 59% opposed it. And this was taken after the House passed it the first time. Is this a messaging issue with the bill or is this substantive? Are we talking about Medicaid?

I think honestly it could be both and it all goes back to messaging when we're talking about public polling. You know the president's got some big events around the 4th of July weekend. Gotta expect that he is going to do a lot of messaging on what's good about the bill because what GOP and other internal polling has showed when you talk about things like yes there are cuts to Medicaid but it's for able-bodied young men who are sitting at home doing nothing and collecting Medicaid or people who are in this country illegally

collecting Medicaid, that polls really well for them. But the Democrats have seen in their internal polling as well that when you talk about millions of people ending up uninsured or taken off these programs, you do that at a 30,000-foot view, and people are absolutely against it. They don't like the idea that people would lose health care or that these hospitals, especially in rural areas, will lose access. So there's going to be a big messaging battle ahead because Democrats have said, great, we can't wait to run on this bill for the midterms and tell people what's happening.

Republicans, though, on the other side feel like, all right, listen, these tax cuts remain in effect. That's going to help us with messaging. It would have been a much tougher lift, they think, for their side of the 2026 midterm ticket had people seen two, three thousand or more increase in their tax bill next year before they went to vote.

The trouble is that people didn't see it, right? And so it's not something they can compare it to. It's not something they can react to. So it might be an uphill fight for them. But to your point about Democrats saying this will be a talking point ahead of the midterms, a big one, namely any loss people experience with regards to Medicaid or food stamps, Republicans seem pretty insistent that this sort of loss is not going to happen, as you point out, that this curtails the use of a system by those who shouldn't get to use it so easily. But this remains one of those things that...

that time will tell, right? The proof will be and how this flushes out.

Because there's no doubt that there will be people caught up in these changes and we will hear those stories. They'll be on the front pages of major papers and networks are going to say, look at this single mom who is, her life is falling apart because she lost these benefits. You're going to see those stories and they will be on repeat and they will be on steroids because those cases are always going to happen. So no doubt that opponents of this bill are going to find ways to highlight those stories. And, you know, even when I

pressed Republican members, some of them have been openly worried about these changes because they worried about those real life impacts. And others have acknowledged like, yes, even though we think that we're getting the bad actors, quote unquote, off of these programs because we want them to be more financially stable and able to benefit those who are truly vulnerable and who these programs were designed for. They acknowledge there are going to be some of these tough cases and you're going to hear a lot about them.

All right. Yeah, time will tell. Let's move on to some other issues of the week here because we've got some big news on the transgender issue with regards to sports. The University of Pennsylvania says they will stop allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports. They will also, though, Shannon, restore titles to women, begin using biological definitions of male and female. Is this a culture shift, do you think, for Penn University?

Or was this just a reaction by a university that doesn't want to lose federal grant dollars? And so it was a no-brainer. I think federal dollars are playing a big part of the conversation in these negotiations over whether it's anti-Semitic protests on campus, whether it's trans athletes in women's sports, whatever it is. I mean, this administration signaled from day one these very specific policies and that they would use funding to spark these conversations

But I think, too, there is got to be some realization that when this pulls across party lines that the vast majority of Americans say, if you present them with a question, somebody born biologically male, should they be competing, taking scholarships and awards in women's sporting categories?

The majority of Americans don't agree with that. And maybe that is trickling out to some of these schools and other cultural institutions who say, all right, we're trying to do what we think is staying on the right side of history, but maybe we are too far out of touch with everyday Americans and people who send their kids to our schools.

And there are other schools under investigation for this, for how they handle transgender athletes in women's sports. But the question after you, Penn, shift is, you know, how will other schools shift? Will they respond to the same way or will they all shift back once President Trump is no longer in office? In other words, is this a politics of the moment type issue? But just as we ask that question, we now get word the Supreme Court will consider this very question in regards to cases out of Idaho and West Virginia. Right.

Absolutely will. So this is going to be one of those first marquee cases onto the fall term. They start arguments in October. There are a couple they added this week that'll be super interesting. And this is one that we knew was bubbling. It had to get to the court at some point.

Of course, they wrapped up this last term with a big decision out of Tennessee with regard to transgender medical treatment for minors. We figured this sports question was coming. So behind closed doors, it takes at least four votes to get a case onto the docket. We do not know who voted how, and it certainly doesn't guarantee that if you think any specific viewpoint is going to come out in the end of this case, um,

Because with four, nobody's reached a majority. You don't know why those four wanted to hear the case or how they'll vote when they ultimately hear it. So it's definitely going to be one of the ones to watch come October.

It sure is. A few more for you before I let you go. So President Trump had a busy week. He visited something called Alligator Alcatraz. He says he wants this sort of short term migrant detention facility in Florida to be in every state. But while he was there, Shannon, he was asked about farm workers. There's been some worksite enforcement at food plants and on farms, even particularly in California.

And the president has said he's on both sides of this issue, that he wants the farmers to have a solution, to have workers. And he said we're going to have a system of signing them up so they don't have to go. They can be here legally. They can pay taxes and everything. This sounds like Congress needs to be involved, though, in something that would change a guest worker visa system.

Good luck, because we all know that when one party has controlled White House, House and Senate, whether it's been D or R, they have not gotten substantive immigration legislation done in decades. And they will all talk about it, but actually getting something across the finish line. And it's really doubtful when you look ahead to the midterms coming. Are Democrats going to want to help Republicans get something across the finish line, which they probably would need to if you're going to do something comprehensive on immigration legislation?

Yeah, there have been mixed messages from the White House about how to handle these things. The president, you know, he's part of his fortune and his name has been made in the hospitality industry. He's talked about that. He's heard from a lot of people within that industry. He's had to hire thousands and thousands of people in that industry over the years. So he signaled that, okay, we're going to find a way to make some of these workers able to come and go.

with some kind of status, but it also gets to that question of e-verify. Should there be an employment verification system that employers have to comply with to use workers who come in and out of the country

And a lot of people, too, will tell you DNR. They think that's a great idea. It never gets through in any bill because there are business groups and and others who employers don't want to have to comply with it and run the legal risks. So, yeah, I think it does sound like something that comprehensive would have to involve Congress. Totally different topic. Let's go abroad for just one question. The president did talk to Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, and Putin said he

A couple of really significant things. He's not interested in stepping back from his goals in Ukraine. That while he's interested in a settlement, he also needs to address the root causes of the conflict. And Shannon, this phone call happened hours after the U.S. paused some military aid to Ukraine and a Kremlin spokesman said, hey, the fewer weapons supplied to Ukraine, the closer the end to our special military operation. All of this seems quite significant, but what do we make of it?

Most people would call that a war, this special military operation. It does raise a lot of questions because for the last several months, we've seen President Trump be alternately furious with and happy with Putin and Zelensky, respectively. I mean, he's been after both of them at times. He thought they weren't actually coming to the table and having a conversation. He's been supportive in some ways of both of them. I think it's really going to fire up a

bipartisan support for a new round of Russian sanctions on Capitol Hill. You know it's rare that you get eighty plus senators to buy in together on anything. But they seem pretty united on this issue pushing back and even some Republicans have expressed.

the feeling that they believe President Trump has been too easy on Putin. So it's definitely something we're going to be talking about Sunday with some key lawmakers on Fox News Sunday. You know, where do we go from here? Because that thing is not slowing down and it's come at an enormous cost to both of those countries.

Finally, Shannon, it is July 4th today. Our Fox News poll shows more Americans are proud of our country than they have been in a decade. I think it's at 58 percent. But two things were still a far cry from 2011 when nearly 70 percent of Americans were proud of the U.S.,

And number two, Shannon, last year, only 36 percent of the GOP was proud. And this year, 85 percent of the GOP is proud. And I'm going to pose this question to you. How do we get to a place where pride is dependent not on the current leader, but like our deeper American history, you know, for all our faults and flaws? I wonder we're so divided at this moment and that we've had times in the past where we've been incredibly divided.

fatally, it felt like at times, divided. You think of the Civil War and you think of other moments where the country has found a way to come back together, which always gives me hope that we will find our way to each other. And the fact is, I think all of us, if you go out and look at your neighborhoods and your friends and people in your community, maybe people you completely disagree with, if they had an emergency next door, you'd probably go help them. I do think the majority of Americans are like that.

But politics is very much driven a wedge, I think, at this moment. So I think at the heart of our country, there are things that we agree on when it's America against the world. We're very united. And so I'm hopeful and I do believe we'll get back to that place. Fox News Sunday anchor Shannon Bream, thank you so much for joining us. Well, thank you and have a great weekend. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

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This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason and the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. This is Howard Husek with your Fox News commentary coming up.

As we celebrate America's independence with parades, parties, cookouts, and fireworks, this year also marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the 250th birthday of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Thanks to their extraordinary service and devotion, 250 years later, America stands tall, America stands proud.

And America stands free. President Trump at last month's Army parade in Washington, where clear skies were in the forecast for tonight's annual concert and fireworks show. It's the greatest party in America for the Fourth of July, and it is so patriotic. Alfonso Ribeiro, host of America's Funniest Home Videos and Dancing with the Stars, is back for a third year hosting a Capitol Fourth, live on most PBS stations and streamed live online at 8 p.m. Eastern. It is an incredible show.

And for me to be a part of something that is now in its 45th season year doing this is such an honor. And anytime you can be connected to something so honorable, it just warms your heart. I just enjoy the show. I've enjoyed watching the show and enjoy being part of the show.

It's an incredible lineup. It makes your heart melt every year. All the tributes that we do. And this year, we're leaning into it heavily. We are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. And so we're going to have an Armed Forces Medley that is going to be incredible. We're honoring the greatest generation to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. So we're paying tribute to the millions of Americans who serve the nation today.

uh... and we'll have several of those in in attendance we're also saying thank you to our uh... first responders so this is something that you know i_d_ i'm a patriotic man and so uh... this is a special special way to to celebrate them and and do it uh... by having an incredible birthday party for america image in the world war two heroes that uh... some of who like you said to be in attendance that they mean but the youngest of those surviving veterans

uh... is in their mid nineties suddenly it seems like we're you know we're we're running out of time in the in not too many years to say thank you uh... to those people in person absolutely absolutely it's it's incredible last year uh... what we did we had a you know rose in a river uh... com and be there with us and my wife grandmother was a rosy was an actual rosy and so celebrating uh... that generation uh...

you know, is a special honor. And like you just said, we only have a few years left to actually celebrate them in person and not just in memory. So we're going to take every opportunity to do that. Beach Boys, Temptations, you've got classical music, of course, the military bands, you've got country. Anybody in particular you're looking forward to hearing this year, seeing this year?

Well, I'm old school, so the Temptations and Beach Boys and Yolanda Adams are certainly three that I'm excited about. But of all of it, you know, I mean, Abby Carter, who won American Idol, Lauren Daigle, Grammy Award-winning artist Josh Turner, multiple Grammy-nominated country star and trombone shorty, which is going to be great, a New Orleans icon. So, yeah.

I'm excited about our entire list, and it's going to be fun. Yeah, and the people who put these shows together really do do a good job of finding at least something for everybody and finding a cross-section of America, culturally.

well absolutely and that's i think that's what you know putting together a great show is all about right you you don't want to exclude an audience you want to make sure that the at that audience has something for them and you know there might be you know momentary like well i don't know who that is but wow that was a great song and um... well that was fun and you know the you you open people's mind up to other options other other styles of music that they may not you don't normally listen to so

That is a great thing that we're able to do every year. And this is my third year hosting, so I'm excited to be back and get to do it again. And besides the music that you get to enjoy in addition to, you know, in between actually working, you're not cooped up in a studio. You've got a nice big crowd there and a lot of smiling faces to look at.

It's amazing. You know, one of the most beautiful things is when you're standing on the main stage and you're looking back at the Capitol building and you see the West Lawn and it's just full of happy, joyous, celebratory people who are just ready to party and ready to salute and be part of this. And the red, white, and blue with the Capitol building as a backdrop, it's just an image that you just...

you can't get it was just an on that stage so it is it is very is very patriotic and moving when you're there do you like the state of the history of it and and and those kind of sites

Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, last year I actually took a tour of the building, which was incredible, and first time doing that. You know, no matter where you stand, you're able to go and recognize the beauty of what is there. So, yeah, yeah, it's cool. I know on TV it's, you know, fireworks are sort of fireworks in a way, but look, you're a New Yorker. I don't want you to besmirch anybody, but how do the D.C. fireworks, these fireworks compare to New York's for you?

Well, these are the biggest. This is the biggest fireworks show in the nation. So, you know, as a New Yorker, yeah, yep, yep, over the Statue of Liberty is pretty good, but this is even better over the National Mall. Can I blindside you with a little July 4th trivia? Most of them are just going to be guesses for you? Sure. Okay. Okay, three presidents who signed the Declaration of Independence all died on July 4th, two of them on the same day, and one a little bit later. Can you name any of them, of those three? Okay.

I can't. I can't. Not a shot. But, you know, I told you it was going to be unfair. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died July 4th, 1826. And James Monroe died five years later. OK, now it's fairly commonly known that the July 4th isn't Independence Day, arguably. Do you know what day Congress actually voted to declare independence?

See, you're just hitting me as a... I left school a long time ago, brother. I'd rather we play this game with you, just tell me. Okay, July 2nd, 1776. Star Spangled Banner? All right. Star Spangled Banner, I won't even ask you. The Star Spangled Banner was written many, many, many... It wasn't written as the national anthem. It was written...

In 1814. Okay, it was written in 1814, and then somebody along the way decided, oh, that'd be a good national anthem. And then in 1931 is when it was officially declared a national anthem. Did you ever get to the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Hunt contest in person? I've never been to the—nope, never been. First one of those, 1916. It's a good time. It's generally, for some reason, ungodly hot.

Every 4th of July down there. And you don't want to stand too close to the competitors, I'll be honest with you. Okay. But it is a good time. One more. This is... Well... One more bit of trivia. July 4th, 1778. Do you know how George Washington rewarded the troops to celebrate the day? He did, like, over Winfrey and bought them all new cars? Close. For them, it was probably just as good. They got double rum rations that day, my friend.

Oh, got it, got it. I mean, listen, a party's a party. Good to talk once again with Alfonso Ribeiro, back for a third year hosting a Capital Fourth, live on most PBS stations and streaming live online starting at 8 p.m. Eastern. You can also catch it on demand for the next couple of weeks. Alfonso, thanks. All right, cool.

And now, some good news with Tanya J. Powers. Just in time for America's birthday, a male bald eagle who battled bird flu is back in the wild, thanks to a successful rehab by a Florida organization. The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay first noticed something was amiss when eagle watchers saw that the male bird and his sister couldn't be seen. What tipped us off is the birds were missing from the nest. Not that there was anything wrong with them. I mean,

A storm can do that. And those are a lot of the birds that we rescue are a lot of these juvenile eagles.

That's Raptor Center President Nancy Murrah. She formed the center in 2018 in order to build a wildlife rehab and education center with an emphasis on birds of prey. When center workers went looking for the eagles, they found them in a field below the nest. Birds sick with avian influenza exhibit seizures and neurological symptoms. And the female was exhibiting neurological symptoms. The male was not. The female was also very skinny. The male was not.

Both tested positive for bird flu, and the female died within hours of being rescued. The male had no symptoms, so Murrah called the U.S. Fish and Wildlife folks for some guidance. They had advised us that they would euthanize the bird because of the just difficulty of dealing with isolation.

The male bird tested negative after more than a month of quarantine, then spent another 21 days in a flight cage until he reached the weight he needed to be in order to be released back in the wild. Somebody always has to be the person that's going to be willing to take the risk to do something. And, you know, clearly we were willing to take that risk because we knew that we could be extra careful with him. As for now, he's flying high on America's birthday. Tanya J. Powers, Fox News.

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This is Jimmy Fallon inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding. It's only a three-hour show. Listen live at noon Eastern or get the podcast at foxacrossamerica.com. Subscribe to this podcast at foxnewspodcasts.com. It's time for your Fox News commentary. Howard Usyk. What's on your mind? For this July 4th, we should celebrate hardware stores. No kidding.

In 1997, in the early optimistic post-Soviet days, I visited Odessa, Ukraine, to lead discussions there about democracy with public officials. That beautiful historic city on the Black Sea, once a center of commerce and now targeted by Russian bombs, was just awakening from socialism. Private hotels and restaurants had opened, even as government-owned resorts for labor unions continued to operate.

but the green shoots of private ownership had not yet reached the housing market. There were long blocks of what were called Khrushchev's concrete slab 1950s apartment blocks named for the former Soviet premier who once promised to bury the US. Public housing was the rule, not the exception under communism. Well, that helped explain the absence of a type of business I noticed was missing on the streets of Odessa. Hardwurst

They're everywhere in the U.S., of course, from the Hope Depot and Lowe's Giants to the hundreds of small, true-value affiliates. Their absence during the hangover from socialism led me to realize that the outlets for everything from lumber to wall plaster to bathroom grout hold a significance that goes beyond all the inventory they have.

They tell us a lot about America, from private homeownership to the personal responsibility that goes along with it. In other words, what we celebrate on July 4th, freedom. We tend to talk about whether homeownership is affordable, but we don't pay enough attention to what it tells us about the American way of life. And yes, the freedom that we're celebrating today. That's where hardware stores come in, really.

Homeowners must rely first and foremost on themselves to maintain their properties. And that's their key source of personal wealth. Yeah, we can call on Angie's List to find contractors and antipersons, but it's our responsibility to know the leaks are there. We can't call the landlord. We are that person.

The stakes are high. Pew Research reports that among households that own their primary residence, home equity accounted for 45% of their net worth in 2021. In other words, almost half our personal wealth is tied up in a home that we own. Surprisingly, it matters the most to minority households.

Home equity is especially important for Black and Hispanic homeowners. They derive 63% and 66% of their net worth, respectively, from their homes. There is a Ho Depot in Odessa, Texas, but not in Odessa, Ukraine.

There's good news about that, though. Since the time of my visit there, the Ukraine-owned hypermarket home improvement chain called Epicenter. It started with one store in Kiev in 1996. In 2009, it opened a location in Odessa. And now there's a private market for those Khrushchev-era apartments. An Odessa real estate website lists one for $21,000, in case you're in the market.

One can only hope that to go along with home ownership and hardware stores, Odessa residents will be able to be secure that they will not have to continue to do repairs from bomb damage. That combination, home ownership and hardware,

Tells us a lot about the freedom Americans too often take for granted today, July 4th. This is Howard Husek. I'm a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. And I have a book coming out in September about the history of public housing called The Projects, A New History of Public Housing. The Projects

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Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy, host of the Trey Gowdy Podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com.