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Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is trying to ramp up pressure on President Biden to negotiate a package of fiscal reforms in exchange for raising the debt limit, but Democrats still refuse to sit down with him, setting the stage for a high-stakes standoff this summer.  

McCarthy on Tuesday tried to kickstart negotiations by laying out his first broad proposals for spending reforms in a letter to Biden.  

He called for cutting nondefense discretionary spending, reclaiming unspent COVID-19 relief funding, strengthening work requirements for social safety net programs and creating policies to lower energy costs and secure the U.S.-Mexico border to stem the flow of illegal drugs. 

McCarthy accused the president of putting the economy at risk by refusing to address the nation’s $31 trillion debt.  

“I am incredibly concerned that you are putting an already fragile economy in jeopardy by insisting upon your extreme position of refusing to negotiate any meaningful changes to out-of-control government spending alongside an increase of the debt limit,” he wrote.   

But McCarthy also admitted Tuesday that he is growing pessimistic about reaching any deal with the White House, which has steadfastly ignored his calls for spending cuts and instead rolled out a budget proposal this month that called for nearly $5 trillion in tax increases.  

“I am more concerned than I have ever been to be able to get this debt ceiling done because he refuses to meet with anybody and misleads the American public,” McCarthy said of Biden in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday. 

Democrats, meanwhile, say they won’t negotiate with McCarthy until he shows he has the votes to pass a package of fiscal reforms with top-line spending numbers.  

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday dismissed McCarthy’s letter as not doing anything to advance the discussion and said it showed the Speaker is feeling pressure to show conservatives in the House that he’s getting somewhere with the president.  

“I think he’s really feeling pressure, but he has no solution. So he keeps saying the same thing, ‘sit down and negotiate.’ But as I said, if you sit down and negotiate, we have a plan, he doesn’t. What are they going to do? Talk about the weather?” Schumer said, also calling McCarthy’s broad suggestions “vague” and “amorphous.”  

“No, he didn’t advance the ball. It was just another sign of the pressure he’s under but he’s not moving forward,” he added.  

Biden on Tuesday evening responded to McCarthy’s letter, asking him to submit a budget plan before Congress leaves for a two-week recess on Thursday “so that we can have an in-depth conversation when you return.”

But he added, “As I have repeatedly said, that conversation must be separate from prompt action on the Congress’ basic obligation to pay the Nation’s bills and avoid economic catastrophe.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), one of McCarthy’s closest friends in the House, told Punchbowl Tuesday that the Speaker is losing hope of getting anywhere with Biden. 

“I’ve never seen him more pessimistic about an issue than he is about the debt ceiling increase,” he said. “At the moment, I don’t see how we get there. And this a marked change from where I’ve been.” 

McHenry said he didn’t “even see a path” to a debt ceiling agreement.  

There’s a growing expectation among senators in both parties that Biden and McCarthy won’t be able to come to any debt limit agreement, and that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will step in later this year to cut a deal to avoid a national default, as he has done in the past.  

Republican lawmakers say McCarthy needed to do something to get the stalled talks moving. He and Biden last met at the White House on Feb. 1.  

“I think it’s a good move. Let’s get people back to the table again, and hopefully this will act as a jumpstart,” Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said.  

Members discussed McCarthy’s letter during a House GOP conference meeting on Tuesday morning, and Republicans across the ideological spectrum expressed approval of McCarthy’s outline — including members of the House Freedom Caucus and allied hard-line members. 

“I extend my gratitude to Mr. McCarthy, Speaker McCarthy,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. “His letter to President Biden this morning is a positive move.” 

“The conference is united. Speaker McCarthy in this conference is largely saying the same thing, talking about cutting 3 to 4 trillion dollars in spending, going back to 2019 nondefense discretionary spending, ’20 to ’22 spending overall,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.).  

Republicans also derided the White House for seeming to attempt to run out the clock by refusing to sit down with McCarthy. That would then put pressure on Republicans to agree to a clean debt ceiling increase over the summer, possibly only days away from a default.   

“I also don’t know why the President feels that it’s important to wait. That seems like a delay tactic,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), chairman of the Main Street Caucus.  

 Schumer says Democrats have a plan: to vote and pass a clean bill to raise the debt limit.  

And Democrats point out that Biden submitted his $6.8 trillion budget plan to Congress on March 9.  

 Schumer also criticized McCarthy for calling for trillions of dollars in spending reforms without laying out in more detail how he would achieve those savings.  

“Today he said, ‘What about $4 trillion in cuts?’ Well, what are they? A number is not a plan, especially a plan that is so vague and amorphous,” he told reporters. “The reason he doesn’t want to do it in my humble judgment is that he can’t get 218 votes for any plan.”  

But McCarthy argued Schumer does not yet having the votes to pass a clean debt ceiling increase — necessitating the need for negotiation with Biden. 

“If they think they can just raise the debt limit, why don’t they do it in the Senate tomorrow?” McCarthy said. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted in a statement Tuesday that Republicans agreed to pass clean debt limit increases three times under former President Trump.   Man stops traffic to help teacher, children escape Nashville school shooting Florida board bans ‘This Book Is Gay’ from middle school libraries

“Business leaders and economists have warned that the threat of a default risks the livelihoods of American small businesses, retirees, and working families and would hand a massive win to China — and recent events underscore the need for Congress to address the debt limit as soon as possible. It’s time for Republicans to stop playing games, pass a clean debt ceiling bill, and quit threatening our economic recovery,” she said.  

Thune, who is standing in for McConnell while the Kentucky lawmaker recuperates from a concussion, said McCarthy didn’t coordinate his letter ahead of time with Senate Republicans but said his proposals will attract broad GOP support.  

“I know that he’s working with his members … I think those are all items that there’d probably be general, pretty broad agreement among Republicans in both the House and Senate on,” he said. 

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Manfred to rule on Rose ban after Trump meeting

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Manfred to rule on Rose ban after Trump meeting

NEW YORK — Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said he discussed Pete Rose with President Donald Trump at a meeting two weeks ago and he plans to rule on a request to end the sport’s permanent ban of the career hits leader, who died in September.

Speaking Monday at a meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors, Manfred said he and Trump discussed several issues, including concerns over how immigration policies could impact players from Cuba, Venezuela and other foreign countries.

Manfred is considering a petition to have Rose posthumously removed from MLB’s permanently ineligible list. The petition was filed in January by Jeffrey Lenkov, a Southern California lawyer who represented Rose prior to the 17-time All-Star’s death at age 83.

“I met with President Trump two weeks ago … and one of the topics was Pete Rose, but I’m not going beyond that,” Manfred said. “He’s said what he said publicly. I’m not going beyond that in terms of what the back and forth was.”

Trump posted on social media Feb. 28 that he plans to issue “a complete PARDON of Pete Rose.” Trump posted on Truth Social that Rose “shouldn’t have been gambling on baseball, but only bet on HIS TEAM WINNING.”

It’s unclear what a presidential pardon might include. Trump did not specifically mention a tax case in which Rose pleaded guilty in 1990 to two counts of filing false tax returns and served a five-month prison sentence.

The president said he would sign a pardon for Rose “over the next few weeks” but has not addressed the matter since.

Rose had 4,256 hits and also holds records for games (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890). He was the 1973 National League MVP and played on three World Series winners.

An investigation for MLB by lawyer John M. Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team. Rose agreed with MLB on a permanent ban in 1989.

Lenkov is seeking Rose’s reinstatement so that he can be considered for the Hall of Fame. Under a rule adopted by the Hall’s board of directors in 1991, anyone on the permanently ineligible list can’t be considered for election to the Hall. Rose applied for reinstatement in 1997 and met with Commissioner Bud Selig in November 2002, but Selig never ruled on Rose’s request. Manfred in 2015 denied Rose’s application for reinstatement.

Manfred said reinstating Rose now was “a little more complicated than it might appear on the outside” and did not commit to a timeline except that “I want to get it done promptly as soon as we get the work done.”

“I’m not going to give this the pocket veto,” Manfred said. “I will in fact issue a ruling.”

Rose’s reinstatement doesn’t mean he would automatically appear on a Hall of Fame ballot. He would first have to be nominated by the Hall’s Historical Overview Committee, which is picked by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and approved by the Hall’s board.

Manfred said he has been in regular contact with chairman Jane Forbes Clark.

“I mean, believe me, a lot of Hall of Fame dialogue on this one,” Manfred said.

If reinstated, Rose potentially would be eligible for consideration to be placed on a ballot to be considered by the 16-member Classic Baseball Era committee in December 2027.

Manfred said he doesn’t think baseball’s current ties to legal sports betting should color views on Rose’s case.

“There is and always has been a clear demarcation between what Rob Manfred, ordinary citizen, can do on the one hand, and what someone who has the privilege to play or work in Major League Baseball can do on the other in respect to gambling,” Manfred said. “The fact that the law changed, and we sell data and/or sponsorships, which is essentially all we do, to sports betting enterprises, I don’t think changes that.

“It’s a privilege to play Major League Baseball. As with every privilege, there comes responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is that they not bet on the game.”

Manfred did not go into details on his discussion with Trump over foreign-born players other than to say he expressed worry.

“Given the number of foreign-born players we have, we’re always concerned about ingress and egress,” Manfred said. “We have had dialogue with the administration about this topic. And, you know, they’re very interested in sports. They understand the unique need to be able to go back and forth, and I’m going to leave it at that.”

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Technology

Palantir is soaring while its tech peers are sinking. Here’s why

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Palantir is soaring while its tech peers are sinking. Here's why

Alex Karp, chief executive officer of Palantir Technologies Inc., speaks during the AIPCon conference in Palo Alto, California, US, on March 13, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tech stocks have struggled in 2025, as recession and trade war fears sap investor appetite for riskier assets.

Palantir is the exception.

Against a volatile market backdrop, the software maker’s stock has gained 45% and is the best performer among companies valued at $5 billion or more, according to FactSet. The closest tech names are VeriSign, up 33%, Okta, up 30%, Robinhood, up 29%, and Uber, up 29%.

President Donald Trump‘s frenzy of government department overhauls is partially to thank for the pop.

“When you think about macroeconomic concerns, you as a company need to be more efficient, and this is where Palantir thrives,” said Bank of America analyst Mariana Pérez Mora.

Palantir has set itself apart in the software world for its artificial-intelligence-enabled tools, gaining recognition for its defense and software contracts with key U.S. government agencies, including the military. In the fourth quarter, its government revenues jumped 45% year-over-year to $343 million.

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Companies have faced immense volatility in 2025 as tariffs threaten to jeopardize global supply chains and halt day-to-day manufacturing operations by hiking costs. Those fears have brought the broad market index down about 7% this year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has slumped 11%.

Tech’s megacap companies — Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Tesla — are all down between 7% and 31% so far this year.

At the same time, the Trump administration has clamped down on government spending, giving Tesla CEO Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency freedom to slash public sector costs. Some administration officials have touted shifting dollars from consulting contracts to commercial software providers like Palantir, said William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma.

“Palantir’s business model is highly aligned with the priorities of the Trump administration in terms of increasing agility and being very quick to market,” he said.

That’s put Palantir in the league with major contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, which have outperformed in this year’s downdraft. Many companies in the space are also looking to partner with the firm and tend to flock to defense during recessionary times, DiPalma said.

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Palantir vs. the Nasdaq Composite

CEO Alex Karp has also been a vocal supporter of American innovation and the company’s central role in helping prop up what he called the “single best tech scene in the world” during an interview with CNBC earlier this year. Karp also told CNBC that the U.S. needs an “all-country effort” to compete against emerging adversaries.

But the ride for Palantir has been far from smooth, and shares have been susceptible to volatile swings. Shares sold off nearly 14% during the week that Trump first announced tariffs. Shares rocketed 22% one day in February on strong earnings.

Its inclusion in more passive and quant funds over the years and the growing attention of retail traders has added to that turbulence, DiPalma said. Last year, the company joined both the S&P and Nasdaq. Palantir trades at one of the highest price-to-earnings multiples in software and last traded at 185 times earnings over the next twelve months. That puts a steep bar on the stock.

“There really is no margin for error,” he said.

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Technology

NXP Semi shares sink on tariff concerns, CEO Kurt Sievers to step down

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NXP Semi shares sink on tariff concerns, CEO Kurt Sievers to step down

Kurt Sievers, chief executive officer of NXP Semiconductors NV, during the Federation of German Industries (BDI) conference in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, June 19, 2023.

Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz | Bloomberg | Getty Images

NXP Semiconductor Inc. fell about 8% on Monday after the chip company announced that CEO Kurt Sievers will step down as part of its latest earnings.

Here’s how the company did, versus LSEG consensus estimates:

  • Earnings per share: $2.64 adjusted vs. $2.58 expected
  • Revenue: $2.84 billion vs. $2.83 billion expected

Sievers will retire at the end of the year, with Rafael Sotomayor stepping in as president on April 28, 2025.

The company beat expectations on the top and bottom lines but cited a “challenging set of market conditions” looking forward.

“We are operating in a very uncertain environment influenced by tariffs with volatile direct and indirect effects,” Sievers said in an earnings release.

Sales in NXP’s first quarter declined 9% year over year.

The company posted $1.67 billion in auto sales during the first quarter, trailing analyst estimates of $1.69 billion.

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NXP Semi said that second-quarter sales would come in at a midpoint of $2.9 billion, ahead of the $2.87 billion that analysts were projecting. Second-quarter adjusted EPS will be $2.66, in line with analyst estimates.

The company logged first-quarter net income of $490 million, which was a 23% year-to-year drop from $639 million.

NXP’s net income per share was $1.92 compared to $2.47 during the same time a year ago. A drop of 22%.

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