Republican plans to pass a massive new tax cut in the early days of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term are running into a major obstacle: the price tag. Extending Trump’s 2017 tax law would add $4.6 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office, lawmakers’ nonpartisan bookkeeper. But now some leading GOP tax writers are arguing that extending the law wouldn’t add to the nation’s $36.2 trillion debt at all.Subscribe to The Post Most newsl ..read more

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday removed the GOP chairman of the powerful House Intelligence Committee, who was a vocal supporter of assistance for Ukraine and held other views that put him at odds with President-elect Donald Trump. Johnson told reporters late Wednesday that Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, would no longer lead the committee, which oversees the nation's intelligence agencies and holds tremendous influence over law enforcement and foreign policy. During Trump's firs ..read more

Deere & Co. unfairly forces farmers to visit authorized dealers to repair their equipment, resulting in higher prices than if they could fix it themselves or get help from independent shops, the Federal Trade Commission claims in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday with the attorneys general of Illinois and Minnesota. The Moline, Illinois-based manufacturer produces repair software that is available only to its dealers, making it impossible for owners to seek less-costly remedies, according to th ..read more

It turns out that $1.8 billion in South Carolina state funds weren't just sitting in a bank account waiting to be spent. Instead, it was an accounting error compounded over years instead of being reconciled, an independent forensic audit determined. "In the private sector, if anybody had made a blunder of $1.8 billion -- whether it was an error, negligence, misfeasance, malfeasance, fraud or a cover-up, they would lose their job,” said Republican state Sen. Larry Grooms, who leads a committee ..read more

Cuba started releasing some prisoners Wednesday as part of talks with the Vatican, a day after President Joe Biden's administration announced his intent to lift the U.S. designation of the island nation as a state sponsor of terrorism. More than a dozen people who were convicted of different crimes — and some of them were arrested after taking part in the historic 2021 protests — were released during the day, according to Cuban civil groups following the cases of detainees on the island. Among ..read more

As New Orleans prepares to host the Super Bowl next month, Louisiana authorities cleared homeless encampments around the stadium on Wednesday and relocated many to a temporary warehouse facility that costs millions of dollars to operate. Gov. Jeff Landry framed the sweep — which city officials say undermines their efforts to address homelessness — as part of a move to secure New Orleans, especially in the aftermath of the New Year’s Day attack that killed 14 people. The tough-on-crime Republic ..read more

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom will join Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and some GOP governors around the country in directing U.S. flags be raised to full height on Inauguration Day. Newsom’s spokesperson Izzy Gardon confirmed Wednesday that the governor would temporarily direct the raising of flags at the state Capitol in Sacramento for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Flags at the U.S. Capitol and at statehouses around the country have been lowered to half-staff ..read more

"I lost. He won," the outgoing senator from Utah said of soon-to-be president Donald Trump ..read more

Republicans made key gains in Vermont, breaking Democratic legislative supermajorities as voters concerned over affordability boosted the GOP ..read more

President-elect Donald Trump has selected three Californians for posts in his next administration ..read more