Some segments of the U.S. restaurant industry don't support President Donald Trump's proposal to eliminate federal taxes on tips. They say it would help too few people and obscure bigger issues in the way tipped workers are paid. The Independent Restaurant Coalition, which represents nearly 100,000 restaurant and bars, has appealed to Congress to reconsider the proposal, which is part of the president's spending bill. Even some workers who rely on tips say they oppose making them tax-deductible. For now, making tips tax-free appears to have broad support among lawmakers. The House included it in a tax cuts package approved last month. The Senate Finance Committee passed a modified version on Monday.

President Donald Trump faces the challenge of convincing Republican senators, global investors, voters and even Elon Musk that he won't bury the federal government in debt with his multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package. The response so far from financial markets has been skeptical as Trump seems unable to trim deficits as promised. The tax and spending cuts that passed the House last month would add $5.1 trillion to the national debt in the coming decade if they are allowed to continue. That's according to the Committee for a Responsible Financial Budget, a fiscal watchdog group.

Conservatives have blocked President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts bill. House Republicans failed Friday to push it out of the Budget Committee. Four GOP conservatives initially voted against it, demanding further cuts to Medicaid and green energy tax breaks. A fifth switched his vote in a procedural step so it could be reconsidered later and says he's confident they'll "get this done." Tallying a whopping 1,116 pages, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is teetering at a critical moment. At the same time, lawmakers from high-tax states including New York are demanding a deeper local tax deduction. Democrats call the package "bad economics." The Budget Committee plans to try again Sunday.

House Republicans have missed another deadline to produce a massive budget package of tax cuts and slashed spending. Instead, Senate Republicans on Friday jumped ahead, unveiling a more tailored $340 billion blueprint focused on President Donald Trump's deportation agenda and bolstered U.S. defense spending. Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledges his own chamber's plan will slip into the weekend but insists it has just a few details to iron out. At stake is the Republican president's priority legislation that includes some $4 trillion in tax breaks, massive program cuts and a possible extension of the nation's debt limit. Republican senators are headed to Trump's private Florida club to discuss.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal deficit for the 2019 budget year surged to $984.4 billion, its highest point in seven years, and is widely expec…