Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters,

and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the Congressional Budget Office's non-partisan analysis that Trump's big,

beautiful bill will add $2.4 trillion to annual budget deficits over the next decade,

while throwing 10.9 million Americans off health care and food stamps,

punishing the poorest amongst us to reward the richest with tax cuts they don't need.

Joining us is Robert Hawkeett, the Edward Cornell Professor of Law and Finance, and a professor

of public policy at Cornell University, who has had firsthand experience working with the

International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

and continues to consult for a number of U.S. federal, state, and local legislators and regulators.

He drafted Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal Resolution for the House of Representatives

and officially advises her in economic policy. His latest books are Money from Nothing, Why We Should

Stop Worrying About Debt and Learn to Love the Federal Reserve, financing the Green New Deal,

a plan of action and renewal, the Citizens Ledger, digitizing our money, democratizing our finance,

and most recently spread the Fed, distributed central banking for productive monetary policy.

Then we'll look into Trump's hour and 15-minute call with Putin today,

in which again he sided with the Russian dictator,

saying that Putin will have to respond to Ukraine's attack on bomber basis,

while adding that he and Putin also, quote,

exchanged views on the prospects for restoring cooperation

between the countries, which has enormous potential.

Joining us is Oleg Kusuba, the director of print and digital publications at the Harvard

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