The House approved a bipartisan bill that would expand the child tax credit. As tensions between Zelenskyy and his military chief rise, the EU agrees to more than $50 billion in aid for Ukraine.
Today’s top stories
The U.S. House has overwhelmingly approved a three-year deal that would temporarily expand the child tax credit and implement tax cuts for businesses. In a rare moment of bipartisanship in a divided Congress, the deal is a result of negotiations between Republican Rep. Jason Smith and Democratic Sen. Rob Wyden.
While NPR’s Eric McDaniel admits he loves to be glib about Congress, he notes on Up First that this is a bill people will really feel. If signed into law, it would benefit 16 million children and lift as many as half a million out of poverty. Still, the bill is not as robust as the COVID-era child tax policy, which has led some progressives to oppose it.
Hit songs from some of the biggest artists in the world, including BTS, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga, may soon be unavailable to TikTok users. As Universal Music Group negotiates a new contract with the social media giant, it’s threatening to pull its music catalog from the app unless TikTok agrees to more favorable terms for compensation and protection against AI.
TikTok accounts for just 1% of UMG’s revenue, according to an open letter from the company. But NPR’s Stephen Thompson says it’s not just a matter of royalties, and the stakes are still high. TikTok is a major source of exposure, especially for smaller artists.
