Today’s Big Story

Tax Bill Heads Back to House

The Senate passed Trump’s tax and immigration agenda, but there's a bumpy road ahead

The “big, beautiful bill” squeaked through the Republican-controlled Senate and narrowly passed, after days of negotiations and a marathon amendment session that at times appeared to imperil the domestic policy package. It’s now one step closer to heading to President Donald Trump’s desk and hands Senate Majority Leader John Thune the biggest win of his first six months on the job.

The vote was 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie after three Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the legislation. In a marathon overnight session that spanned more than 24 hours, senators voted on dozens of proposed changes to the legislation and GOP leaders dragged out many of the votes as they frantically worked to win over holdouts. They ultimately secured enough votes with a catch-all amendment that was similarly approved by a vote of 51-50.

Of course, now it heads back to the House. Speaker Mike Johnson is facing an explosion of internal anger among his members over the Senate’s changes to the sweeping domestic policy package. Congress has just days to pass the bill before Republicans’ self-imposed July 4 deadline—which will require flipping dozens of “no” votes and overcoming numerous procedural hurdles. “We knew the Senate would amend the House product. I encouraged them to amend it as lightly as possible. They went a little further than many of us would have preferred,” Johnson told Axios.

The new Senate version would wipe out many of the strides made by the Affordable Care Act in reducing the number of uninsured Americans, resulting in at least 17 million Americans losing their health coverage, according to nonpartisan estimates and experts. It also threatens to strip health insurance, food stamps and other aid from the poor. For many of these families, the loss of critical federal support is likely to negate any improvements they might have seen as a result of slightly lower taxes, experts said.

The Budget Lab at Yale, a research center, concluded Monday that the plan would parcel out its benefits disproportionately. Americans who comprise the bottom fifth of all earners would see their annual after-tax incomes fall on average by 2.3% within the next decade, while those at the top would see about a 2.3% boost. That reality could undercut Republican lawmakers and President Trump, who insisted anew this week that their legislative vision would benefit the entire economy.

Trump Visits ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

The Florida detention camp is the next step in his immigration crackdown

While the fate of his entire legislative agenda hangs in the balance, President Trump hopped on Air Force One and flew to Florida—not to Mar-a-Lago, but to a new detention center for migrants that had been hastily assembled on an old airstrip in the middle of the Everglades.

The place had already been nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Republicans, on account of the fact that it’s surrounded by miles of marshland seething with reptiles. The state said the site (a combination of trailers and tents divided with chain-link fences and bunk beds packed tightly together) will hold up to 5,000 immigration detainees and will operate under the current state of emergency. Critics, including Florida Democratic Representative Maxwell Frost, have called the project “cruel.” Frost said many of the people being detained haven’t been convicted of crimes and shouldn’t be held in a remote, swampy area.

So far, little has been said about how exactly the facility came to be. But on Tuesday, Rolling Stone and Bloomberg reported that the two main contractors who worked to quickly build out the center, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called a “one-stop shop” for detention, adjudication, and deportation of migrants, have been significant donors to both DeSantis and Trump. According to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, the contractors were selected from an existing pool of vendors already approved by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management—a move that allowed the state to bypass competitive bidding requirements.

The Smell of Success

Fragrance is booming, with scent sales growing faster than any other beauty segment

Do you smell that? The fragrance industry is booming. Colognes and perfume was the fastest-growing beauty segment last year, according to sales data. And analysts at Circana say the rate of growth for fragrance sales has accelerated moving deeper into 2025.

Holidays are a key contributor to the fragrance market’s annual bottom line, analysts say. Most recently, the Mother’s Day results did not disappoint, and the Father’s Day outlook is equally encouraging, with sales around $230 million in the U.S. alone. Other experts point to the return to office mandates and increased IRL socializing after the pandemic for our growing collection of perfume and cologne bottles.

While the category is popular among several generations, young people are definitely embracing that sweet-smelling life. Gen Z as a whole uses fragrances regularly—according to Circana, 83% of all zoomers spritz some on almost daily—a Piper Sandler survey of more than 13,500 teens found that Gen Z men upped their spending on fragrances last year by 26% year-over-year. And they’re not wearing the cheap stuff like I did back in high school. Thanks to TikTok, where #PerfumeTok tastemakers are breathing life into trends like “fragrance wardrobes,” scent layering, and “smellmaxxing,” WWD reports that 60% of young men now prefer unique, prestige fragrances over more common mass brands.

Nothing’s New Headphone 1

The buzzy tech brand releases its first over-the-ear headphones for $299

The stylish London-based smartphone maker Nothing knows how to make waves. And on Tuesday, it launched its latest offering: Some over-the-ear headphones, dubbed the Headphone (1). The new device follows Nothing’s first step into audio hardware with last year’s debut of the Ear 2 open-ear headphones.

The brand’s founder Carl Pei says the company only has a 0.2% market share in smartphones, but it has achieved more than $1 billion in revenue since its founding in 2021. While the company initially delved into mature categories like earbuds and smartphones, Pei says he wants Nothing to “shift from being followers of the market to lead the way and explore how people interact with technology in the future.” WIRED says last year's Ear (Open) was “one such risk since it's a relatively nascent category within the broader earbuds market, but it was successful; they're some of our favorite open earbuds right now.”

Like most of Nothing’s offerings, they’ve got a stripped-down, semi-transparent design. The Verge says the headset resembles a cross between Apple’s AirPods Max and 1980s FM radio headphones. Writer Andru Marino liked the design, but said wearing it felt a little silly. “The housing feels cheaper than the aluminum casing of the $549 AirPods Max and also less… grown up. I’m almost embarrassed to wear it on the street and worried that I’ll look like I’m cosplaying as a cyborg.” However most reviews said the noise-cancellation, call clarity and overall sound quality was great (but not quite as good as Sony or Bose).

Light Your Fuse

Huckberry’s 4th of July sale is packed with explosive deals

Don’t sweat it.