Elon Musk and fiscal conservatives are pushing back on President Donald Trump’s new budget bill, warning it could add trillions to the national debt. The White House has officially replaced Pride Month with “Title IX Month,” focusing on protecting women’s sports and spaces. And, two Chinese nationals were arrested for attempting to smuggle a dangerous agricultural pathogen into the United States.
It’s Thursday, June 5, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
Budget Battles & The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
Topline: The Senate takes up debate of Trump’s budget bill – while Musk raises concern over the massive debt.
Elon Musk made waves this week with his criticism of President Trump’s big, beautiful bill, and budget hawks couldn’t be happier.
On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the big beautiful bill would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. The Trump administration says this estimate is wrong — Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought says the CBO is “not using a realistic current policy baseline” and that the bill would actually reduce the debt by $1.4 trillion over 10 years.
Musk, who just stepped back from his government post last week, said Tuesday that the bill was a “disgusting abomination.” Republicans who opposed the bill, like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quickly joined Musk in slamming the bill. Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee took a different tack, saying that the bill that passed the House was flawed and that the Senate can improve it.
Democrats joined the fight, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) highlighting that even “Trump’s buddy” doesn’t like his spending bill. “If even Elon Musk, who’s been part of the whole process and who’s Trump’s buddy, says the bill is bad, you can imagine how bad this bill is.”
Trump defended the bill but stopped short of slamming Elon, instead turning his ire on Senator Paul, saying: “Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him. This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!”
Meanwhile, the White House sent Congress a $9.4 billion rescission package. This bill codifies a number of DOGE cuts, including federal funding for PBS and NPR. Members of the House Freedom Caucus are demanding a vote on this package immediately, and both House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) say they’re eager to call a vote on the bill as quickly as possible.
Trump Administration Rebrands June
Topline: Instead of Pride Month, the Trump White House announced that June will be dedicated to highlighting the protection of women’s spaces.
It’s June in Washington, D.C., but the Pride flags that have become ubiquitous in many of the city’s public spaces are notably absent. Under President Joe Biden’s administration, the White House issued an annual Pride proclamation celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex Pride Month. It hosted a now-infamous Pride celebration on the White House lawn, where a trans-identifying activist drew some serious backlash for posing for topless photos and videos. The White House was heavily decorated with rainbow-colored decor, and Biden and his wife, Jill, mingled with pro-trans activists.
This year, however, things are looking different. The Daily Wire broke the news that the Department of Education would declare June “Title IX Month” rather than Pride Month. That move is intended to celebrate the 53rd anniversary of Title IX’s passage, and the Education Department plans to spend June highlighting what the Trump administration has done so far to reverse the Biden administration’s weaponization of Title IX.
And the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating two significant cases that developed under Biden. One of those deals with a little girl who was allegedly forced to share a bed with a boy who identifies as a girl on an overnight trip. The other deals with a boy joining a sorority at the University of Wyoming, living in the sorority house, and ogling girls in their towels.
“The Biden administration just really muddied the waters on Title IX, tried to get all kinds of different things passed through relative to gender identification,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon told The Daily Wire. “That has now been rolled back.”
The Pentagon announced in January that “identity months” are dead at the Defense Department, and it specifically said Pride Month would not be celebrated anymore. This week, sources tell The Daily Wire that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would order the renaming of a U.S. Navy ship named after gay rights activist Harvey Milk, a Navy veteran who was assassinated in 1978 after being elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. He has been repeatedly accused of grooming young boys.
The FBI also startled the world on Monday when it announced that it’s looking for tips on any hospitals, clinics, or practitioners performing transgender surgeries on minors. The bureau promised in a tweet: “We will protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of gender-affirming care.”
Meanwhile, other Republicans are aggressively messaging against Pride Month and for celebrating traditional values. On Tuesday, Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-IL) introduced a resolution declaring June “Family Month.”
Chinese Nationals Arrested For Smuggling Pathogen
Topline: Two Chinese nationals have been arrested for allegedly smuggling a dangerous pathogen into the United States.
This week, we learned that the FBI has arrested two Chinese nationals accused of attempting to smuggle Fusarium graminearum, a dangerous biological pathogen, into the United States.
One of those individuals, Yunqing Jian, worked as a researcher at the University of Michigan. The FBI says she has expressed loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and has received funding from Beijing in the past to study similar pathogens in China. The other individual, her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, works at a Chinese university where he conducted similar research.
According to the DOJ, Liu “made false statements” to federal authorities “about the purpose of his visit to the United States, and his knowledge of the existence of the biological pathogen in his possession.” But he later admitted that he planned on using his girlfriend’s access at the University of Michigan to conduct research.
The two have now been charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud.
Fusarium graminearum is a noxious fungus that scientists consider a potential agroterrorism weapon. It causes head blight, a fungal disease that spreads among wheat, barley, maize, and rice crops, causing plants to shrivel and die, leaving behind infected kernels that can blow away and spread to the next field. The fungus is responsible for billions of dollars in ruined crops each year. Also, it poses a significant risk to humans and animals, causing vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects if accidentally ingested.
FBI Director Kash Patel called the incident a “sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences… putting American lives and our economy at serious risk.”
While it’s not yet clear if this was part of a broader effort to unleash a bioweapon on American crops, it is clear that China is using students and researchers to steal American research from universities. In 2019, a Chinese professor at UCLA was convicted of trying to illegally obtain semiconductors with military applications so he could smuggle them back to China. Then, a year later, a Chinese national at Harvard was caught attempting to smuggle 21 vials of cancer research from a medical lab back to China. Similar arrests have been made at the University of Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas A&M.