Johnson ‘not surprised’ his proposal to cut IRS budget to fund Israel would cost taxpayer money - as it happened

The blog is now closed. To keep abreast of developments in the Trump trial, please follow our other blog here.

Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates new speaker's plan would increase borrowing by $12.5bn over the 10 years from 2024

And here's Punchbowl News with some thoughts on how the Israel aid bill may turn out to be something of a missed opportunity for the newly elected House speaker, Mike Johnson.

The aid proposal is a much-paired-down response to Joe Biden's request for $106bn to assist both Israel and Ukraine, and to improve US border security. Johnson counter-offered with aid to Israel alone offset by cuts to the IRS that are politically unpalatable to Democrats and have no chance of being enacted by the Senate - robbing him of the opportunity to get legislation passed days after taking over as House leader, and raising the likelihood the Senate will end up taking the lead on Biden's proposal: