Senate expected to take up voter ID bill opposed by Democrats – US politics live

<p>Donald Trump has vowed not to sign any other legislation until the passage of Save America act, which would create more barriers for voting</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/feb/17/sign-up-for-the-breaking-news-us-email-to-get-newsletter-alerts-direct-to-your-inbox?utm_medium=ACQUISITIONS_STANDFIRST&amp;utm_campaign=BN22326&amp;utm_content=signup&amp;utm_term=standfirst&amp;utm_source=GUARDIAN_WEB">Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox</a></p></li></ul><p>Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.</p><p><strong>The voter ID bill, would require proof of US citizenship for new voters, could be taken up by the Senate as early as today.</strong></p><p>Iran’s foreign minister, <strong>Abbas Araghchi</strong>, denied that he is in talks with Steve Witkoff, <strong>Donald Trump</strong>’s real-estate pal turned chief diplomat, and accused the US of leaking false claims that the two are in direct contact to calm panicked markets.</p><p>After Trump claimed that he had spoken to a former US president who told him that he approved of his attack on Iran, all four living former presidents denied having spoken with Trump about Iran.</p><p>Trump <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/16/trump-neal-dunn-florida-republican-health">publicly revealed details about a Republican congressman’s “terminal” diagnosis</a> that could have left him “dead by June”, prompting <strong>Mike Johnson</strong>, speaker of the House, to say: “That wasn’t public.”</p><p>The appointment of a controversial slate of vaccine advisers by <strong>Robert F Kennedy Jr</strong> likely violated federal law, a federal judge ruled, and all votes taken by the committee over the past year have been stayed.</p><p><strong>Gregory Bovino</strong>, the US border patrol chief and frequent Fox News guest who was the face of the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts until the killing of two protesters in Minneapolis by federal agents, said he will retire within weeks.</p><p>Trump, who <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/09/trumps-lie-watching-celebrations-911-lurks-beneath-mockery-reporter/">once mocked</a> the gestures of a New York Times reporter with a congenital condition that limits his ability to move his joints, claimed that the governor of California’s dyslexia means that he is “dumb”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/mar/17/us-senate-voter-id-donald-trump-iran-hormuz-latest-news-updates">Continue reading...</a>

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