04 Jun 2026 10:03 UTC
The US in Brief: The House rebels over Iran
➤ SpaceX unveiled plans for a massive IPO, and concerns grow over the energy demands of AI data centers.
➤ Discussions continue on an immigration bill, while President Trump weakened civil servant employment protections and announced funding for coal production.
➤ The US House of Representatives voted to curb presidential war powers regarding Iran, with four Republicans joining Democrats.
Jun 4th 2026 (published 9m ago)|4 min read
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In a rare display of dissent the House of Representatives voted 215-208 to approve a war powers resolution, which seeks to curb Donald Trump’s operation in Iran by requiring Congress to approve military action first. Four Republicans sided with Democrats, including Thomas Massie, who recently lost Kentucky’s primary after attracting the president’s ire. The measure must next pass the Senate, which separately voted to advance its own version of the resolution last month. Even if it does, Mr Trump could veto it.
Senators voted 53-45 to begin debating a revised draft of a Republicans’ $70bn immigration bill. The latest iteration removes a controversial $1bn security proposal linked to Mr Trump’s White House ballroom. Lengthy votes on additional amendments are expected: some lawmakers want to add language banning the creation of Mr Trump’s $1.8bn “Anti-Weaponisation Fund”. The administration has said it will not proceed with its compensation scheme for supposed victims of government “lawfare”.
Mr Trump signed an executive order weakening employment protections for around 8,000 senior civil servants. The White House said the rule “allows for heightened accountability” for under-performing federal employees, including those subverting “presidential priorities”. The administration previously estimated that as many as 50,000 workers could be affected.
SpaceX unveiled plans to raise $75bn in an initial public offering. Elon Musk’s rocketry and AI firm said it was seeking to sell 555.6m shares at $135 each. That would value SpaceX at $1.77trn. The debut would dwarf Saudi Aramco’s, the biggest to date, which raised $29.4bn in 2019. Anthropic and OpenAI, two more AI firms, are also thought to be preparing massive IPOs.
Mr Trump will reportedly announce nearly $700m in federal funding to boost coal production and American exports of it using the Defence Production Act, a wartime mobilisation law from 1950. Mr Trump invoked the law during his first term, instructing domestic firms to make ventilators and masks during covid; Joe Biden also used it to boost production of batteries for electric vehicles and solar power.
The Agriculture Department said a New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite that is deadly to cattle, was found in Texas. It said the case was “not cause for panic” and that food supplies were safe. It is the first time the pest has been found in America since 2016; it was eradicated from the country decades prior. America’s cattle herd has dwindled this year, pushing up beef prices.
Today’s poll
Chart: The Economist
Every week YouGov polls Americans on behalf of The Economist. This week we asked about support for data centres. Six in ten respondents said they would oppose one being built in their community, including 64% of Democrats and 52% of Republicans. It is a sign of growing backlash against America’s AI boom. The industry’s energy, water and infrastructure demands are undeniably large. But data centres might not be to blame for higher electricity bills—at least, not yet.
After Newsom
Photograph: Reuters
On election night in California Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, seemed to admit that his success in the gubernatorial primary was a surprise. The votes are still being counted, but if current trends hold, Mr Becerra could become the first Latino to be elected the state’s governor. We assess what his leadership would mean for America’s most populous state.
A view from elsewhere
This week Mr Trump reportedly lobbed expletives at Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, over his country’s military action in Lebanon. The exchange “points to a reality in which Israeli strategic choices are being constrained not through formal alliance mechanisms but through the personal leverage of a foreign leader”, writes Yedida Stern in the Times of Israel. That relationship “comes at a price”, he argues. “The Jewish state must put itself first for the long-term.”
Figure of the day
Six, the number of years left until America’s social security trust fund for pensioners runs out of money. If nothing is done, the immediate consequences will be dire. But read why the changes required need not be drastic if they are made soon.
Daily quiz
Illustration: Sandra Navarro
From Monday to Thursday this week we’ll be quizzing you on all things American. Last week reports emerged that Trump administration officials had discussed creating a $250 bill featuring Donald Trump. Our questions are on the history of American money.
Thursday: Which figure was meant to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill in redesign announced in 2016—but never implemented?
Wednesday: Which founding fathers appear on money despite not being president?
Seen in the Oval Office
Photograph: picture alliance
– The president demonstrates the scale of his renovated, “American-flag blue”, Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
How to take part in the quiz: From Monday to Thursday we’ll quiz you on America. Email all your answers with your name and where you are from to usib@economist.com before 5pm New York time (10pm London time) on a Thursday. The weekly winner, chosen at random from those who give all the right answers, will be announced on this page on Fridays.
Categories rationale: The article primarily discusses political and legislative actions within the US ('jurisdictions', 'established-hubs'). It touches upon legal and regulatory aspects like war powers and employment protections ('legal-regulatory', 'enforcement-actions-litigation'). A significant portion also covers political stances and potential policy directions ('political-endorsements-opposition', 'pro-innovation-policy').Characteristics justification: The article contains several negative sentiment indicators, such as 'rebels', 'rare display of dissent', 'lost Kentucky’s primary', 'controversial', 'weakening employment protections', 'subverting presidential priorities', 'deadly to cattle', and 'growing backlash'. The overall tone suggests political conflict and policy uncertainty, contributing to a negative sentiment score. The entropy is high due to the diverse range of topics covered in a brief format. Relevance is high as it covers significant political and business events.Tag relevance: The tags represent the key entities and events discussed: the 'House of Representatives' and 'Iran' for the war powers vote, 'Trump' as a central figure, the 'immigration bill', 'SpaceX' and its 'IPO' as a major business announcement, 'AI' as a related technology, 'coal production' for energy policy, 'cattle' for agricultural news, and 'data centers' for the environmental/AI backlash.asset-types: others
rwa: false
entropy: 0.85
sentiment: -0.6
staleness: 0.3
relevance: 0.7
uncertainty: 0.9RWATimes slug: economist-the-us-in-brief-the-house-rebels-over-iran-1852132404