By Maria Santana, CNN

(CNN) — As she walks out of a Latino supermarket in New York, Esmeralda Roustand shakes her head in frustration.

“There’s almost $20 in here and basically nothing,” said the 60-year-old Dominican mother and grandmother while holding a small bag containing just two orange juices and a lunch of chicken with green bananas.

“If you go grocery shopping, food is expensive, and don’t even get me started on housing. You can’t afford an apartment because they’re extremely expensive,” Roustand said.

Roustand has two adult children and three grandchildren in the Dominican Republic. She works as a home health aide and regularly sends part of her paycheck back to her family on the island. But amid rising food, rent and transportation costs, she says it has become harder to help her loved ones while also supporting herself.

“No matter how much you try to stretch your money, you just can’t anymore because it’s not enough,” Roustand said.

Like her, more and more Latinos say they feel overwhelmed by the cost of living in the United States, even as some economic indicators continue to show resilience.

But for many in this community, financial pressure is not measured in charts or statistics. It’s measured in grocery bags that feel lighter every day, in rent that keeps climbing even when wages do not, and in canceled outings and family plans.

“Every month, I have to check whether I can afford to eat out or whether I have enough to pay rent,” said Juan Galván, a young college student in New York. “I have to adjust when I can go out with friends and basically stay inside just to justify all the money being spent on my apartment.”

Growing economic frustration

The concerns expressed by Latinos in New York are not isolated. A new CNN poll shows the cost of living and inflation remain among Americans’ top concerns ahead of the midterm elections.

The survey shows 70% disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy, while more than seven in 10 disapprove of his handling of inflation and gas prices.

Annual inflation rose to 3.8% in April, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reaching its highest level in nearly three years, while the national average price of gasoline has climbed above $4.50, according to AAA.

Michael Negrón, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former White House economic adviser under President Joe Biden, says inflation tends to disproportionately hit the Latino community because a large share of their income goes toward basic necessities.

“Latinos are being particularly affected by the inflation we’re seeing,” Negrón said. “According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Hispanics spend a larger share of their budget on food, nearly 15%, and around 8% on energy costs – numbers well above the national average.”

According to Negrón, Latino households also tend to rely more heavily on cars and travel longer distances than other groups to get to work.

“When gas prices go up 40% or 50%, it affects everyone, but it affects Latinos more,” Negrón explained. “When the prices of basic necessities – food, electricity and gasoline – are exactly the things rising the fastest, the impact on families is significant.”

The dollar buys less and less

For many consumers, the impact can be summed up in one phrase: Every day you spend more for less.

“Before, with $100, you could fill up a shopping cart, but now you carry the items in your hand with just two little bags,” said José Rosario, who has worked for seven years at Hamilton Meat Market, a butcher shop and grocery store in Upper Manhattan.

Rosario says he has watched customers’ s

Por Lauren Fox, Sarah Ferris y Annie Grayer, CNN

El impulso para asegurar fondos federales para la seguridad del salón de baile del presidente Donald Trump se volvió más difícil en el Capitolio.

Los demócratas del Senado dijeron el sábado que la disposición que financia el salón de baile de Trump en el último proyecto de presupuesto del Partido Republicano fue considerada fuera de orden por la parlamentaria del Senado, Elizabeth MacDonough, un duro golpe para la prioridad del presidente.

Un asistente del liderazgo republicano advirtió de que el proceso sigue en curso y que los republicanos continúan ajustando la disposición para encontrar una manera de incluirla.

Pero la decisión sigue siendo un giro importante en el futuro del proyecto de renovación del salón de baile de Trump.

Los principales republicanos ya eran escépticos en privado de que tuvieran los votos para impulsar el proyecto del salón de baile de Trump —que, según la Casa Blanca, destinaría el dinero estrictamente a la seguridad del proyecto del ala este y a necesidades separadas del Servicio Secreto de EE.UU.— en un momento económicamente tan turbulento para muchos estadounidenses, según varias fuentes del liderazgo republicano.

La noticia del sábado obliga a los líderes del Partido Republicano a volver a la mesa de dibujo para conseguir el dinero a través del Congreso sin los votos demócratas.

La financiación para el salón de baile asciende a unos US$ 220 millones, según un memorando enviado desde la Casa Blanca a los miembros del Congreso esta semana, pero forma parte de una solicitud de financiación para seguridad de US$ 1.000 millones.

Los republicanos, liderados por el senador Lindsey Graham de Carolina del Sur, habían intentado incluir los fondos en un paquete de dinero para inmigración que podría eludir el umbral de 60 votos del Senado siempre que siguiera una serie de reglas de procedimiento. Pero los demócratas dicen que la árbitra de las reglas del Senado, la parlamentaria Elizabeth MacDonough, informó a los legisladores el sábado que el dinero para el salón de baile, de hecho, no cumple con esas reglas especiales.

Antes del fallo más reciente, McDonough ya había determinado que algunas otras disposiciones tendrían que ser modificadas en el paquete más amplio.

Incluso si los líderes republicanos logran reescribir con éxito el lenguaje relacionado con el salón de baile en cumplimiento con las reglas del Senado, es posible que de todos modos sea eliminado.

Existe una gran consternación sobre la imagen que da el dinero destinado al proyecto del ala este —aunque sea solo para seguridad— a pesar de una intensa campaña de cabildeo de la Casa Blanca. Esa estrategia de venta incluyó una sesión informativa completa por parte del jefe del Servicio Secreto a los senadores republicanos, una sesión informativa del secretario de Seguridad Nacional a un gran grupo de representantes republicanos, una sesión informativa del secretario de Justicia interino Todd Blanche e incluso algunas reuniones privadas en la Casa Blanca con legisladores.

Parte de la estrategia de la administración fue aclarar a los legisladores que solo una fracción de hasta US$ 1.000 millones se utilizaría específicamente en el salón de baile, mientras que el resto sería utilizado por el Servicio Secreto para otros asuntos, según dos fuentes presentes en las reuniones.

Pero incluso con la presión total, todavía hay muchos republicanos que son escépticos sobre el costo en un año electoral.

El representante republicano Michael McCaul de Texas le dijo a CNN que hubo “un debate muy vigoroso” entre los republicano

CNN

By Issy Ronald, James Frater and John Torigoe, CNN

Portsmouth, UK (CNN) — When a vessel under attack in the Strait of Hormuz calls for help, a black phone in the corner of an office rings. It’s nothing special – just a normal office phone, a relic of the 1990s.

But when a call comes in, the three people on shift at this small office just outside Portsmouth, on Britain’s south coast, suddenly become central to the current conflict in the Middle East.

For it’s home to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) – a Royal Navy-affiliated body that monitors shipping in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and northern Indian Ocean.

And since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz more than two months ago in response to US-Israeli strikes on the country, the number of emergency calls the UKMTO receives has skyrocketed.

The first moments after that call comes in “can get really stressful,” said Commander Jo Black, UKMTO’s head of operations. “The vessel may be actively under attack. You may hear alarms and sirens in the background. On occasion, we’ve even heard gunfire,” she told CNN.

Merchant vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz have faced all manner of threats as Tehran has sought to impose its control over the crucial waterway, through which a significant proportion of the world’s oil, gas and fertilizer supply flows, in response to the US-Israeli campaign. Some ships have been targeted by Iranian missile fire, others attacked by drones, yet others circled by fast attack craft.

As the war drags into its third month, the nature of the threat from Iran in the strait is changing, Black noted.

“At the start of March, we were very much seeing military action. … More recently it seems to be taking a change towards constabulary action, with vessels being challenged as they approach the Strait of Hormuz, interrogated, asked to verify their claims and, in some unfortunate cases, vessels actually being detained,” she said.

Once a ship reports such an attack, the UKMTO office scrambles into action. Its staff, known as watchkeepers, talk to the vessel’s crew and contact other nearby ships, warning them of the danger as well as asking if they can help, or provide more information. They also contact the shipping companies affected, local coastguards and military forces in the region who also might be able to assist.

It’s manned by a team of just 18 people, who cycle through 12-hour shifts, meaning that there are always three watchkeepers on at any given time, sometimes supported by an analyst too.

“If you call UKMTO, you will get a response,” Black said. “We can’t guarantee that there will be an international community available to respond directly, but we will ensure your information is shared with as wide an audience as possible to try to generate a response.”

The body has recorded 44 incidents since the Iran war began – a mixture of what it classifies as damage to ships, close quarters and near misses. Ten seafarers have died in these incidents, Black said.

Even thousands of miles away, connected to the crisis only by a phone line, it can be stressful for the watchkeepers who are “dealing with a highly emotional situation,” she added, and often establish a rapport with those on board.

Collating information

For all the frenzied response when that phone rings, a “typical d

By Issy Ronald, James Frater and John Torigoe, CNN

Portsmouth, UK (CNN) — When a vessel under attack in the Strait of Hormuz calls for help, a black phone in the corner of an office rings. It’s nothing special – just a normal office phone, a relic of the 1990s.

But when a call comes in, the three people on shift at this small office just outside Portsmouth, on Britain’s south coast, suddenly become central to the current conflict in the Middle East.

For it’s home to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO) – a Royal Navy-affiliated body that monitors shipping in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and northern Indian Ocean.

And since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz more than two months ago in response to US-Israeli strikes on the country, the number of emergency calls the UKMTO receives has skyrocketed.

The first moments after that call comes in “can get really stressful,” said Commander Jo Black, UKMTO’s head of operations. “The vessel may be actively under attack. You may hear alarms and sirens in the background. On occasion, we’ve even heard gunfire,” she told CNN.

Merchant vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz have faced all manner of threats as Tehran has sought to impose its control over the crucial waterway, through which a significant proportion of the world’s oil, gas and fertilizer supply flows, in response to the US-Israeli campaign. Some ships have been targeted by Iranian missile fire, others attacked by drones, yet others circled by fast attack craft.

As the war drags into its third month, the nature of the threat from Iran in the strait is changing, Black noted.

“At the start of March, we were very much seeing military action. … More recently it seems to be taking a change towards constabulary action, with vessels being challenged as they approach the Strait of Hormuz, interrogated, asked to verify their claims and, in some unfortunate cases, vessels actually being detained,” she said.

Once a ship reports such an attack, the UKMTO office scrambles into action. Its staff, known as watchkeepers, talk to the vessel’s crew and contact other nearby ships, warning them of the danger as well as asking if they can help, or provide more information. They also contact the shipping companies affected, local coastguards and military forces in the region who also might be able to assist.

It’s manned by a team of just 18 people, who cycle through 12-hour shifts, meaning that there are always three watchkeepers on at any given time, sometimes supported by an analyst too.

“If you call UKMTO, you will get a response,” Black said. “We can’t guarantee that there will be an international community available to respond directly, but we will ensure your information is shared with as wide an audience as possible to try to generate a response.”

The body has recorded 44 incidents since the Iran war began – a mixture of what it classifies as damage to ships, close quarters and near misses. Ten seafarers have died in these incidents, Black said.

Even thousands of miles away, connected to the crisis only by a phone line, it can be stressful for the watchkeepers who are “dealing with a highly emotional situation,” she added, and often establish a rapport with those on board.

Collating information

For all the frenzied response when that phone rings, a “typical day is actually relatively calm,” said Black. Banks of TV screens show different maps of the region and the shipping traffic passing through it. One map zooms in on the strait itself, a red box demarcating the “hazardous area” possibly containing Iranian mines and which vessels are avoiding.

Watchk

By Steve Contorno, Kristen Holmes, CNN

(CNN) — James Blair has six months to defend Republican power in Congress — but first he needed to send a message to his party.

Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff, spent weeks plotting to crush a group of Republican lawmakers in Indiana who defied the president’s demands for a more favorable congressional map. He personally helped recruit and vet their primary opponents while designing a strategy intended to end their political careers.

The night five of those Republican holdouts fell this month, a triumphant Blair thumped his chest on X with a gif of Russell Crowe in “Gladiator”: “Are you not entertained?”

“Sometimes you can vote your conscience, other times you have to vote with the boss,” Blair told CNN the day after the Indiana primaries, referring to President Donald Trump. “And he gets to decide when that is, because he’s elected party leader. My job is to implement that.”

Called “the Oracle” by colleagues and “ruthless” even by friends, 36-year-old Blair has become one of the most powerful and feared operators in Republican politics. Within the White House, he’s seen as a potential successor to chief of staff Susie Wiles if she ever stepped down. On Capitol Hill, he has kept the party’s fragile majorities in line. Across the country, he has put recalcitrant Republicans on notice, no target too small. The bruising mid-decade redistricting battle that’s reshaping the midterm map? That’s Blair’s brainchild.

Now, this millennial operative will embark on perhaps his most difficult assignment. In the coming weeks, he is expected to step away from his White House role to lead the GOP’s efforts to defend its congressional majorities — a challenging task further complicated by Trump’s sagging approval ratings, an unpopular war, persistent economic anxiety and early signs of fracture in the coalition that carried the president to victory in 2024.

A plan is taking shape. The most intense focus will fall on roughly 30 to 35 House races, according to people steeped in the data. Trump’s advisers privately acknowledge that some of the sporadic voters they activated two years ago to carry the president into the White House may not return, so they are running a large, sophisticated data operation to find new ones.

Fear, Blair said, will be a primary motivator. The pitch: Do you really want Democrats back in power?

The confidence stems in part from polling that shows Democrats are largely unpopular, too, as well as faith in a political operation that Trump advisers insist is more advanced than it was in 2018 and far superior to that of the Democratic Party.

Blair will have a massive war chest at his disposal — nearly $400 million between Trump-aligned super PACs — a financial advantage the GOP didn’t have during the president’s first term. Blair declined to say how much is earmarked for the fall, but insisted Republicans would have the necessary resources. He will oversee the coordination of spending across GOP groups, ensuring alignment that has historically been elusive.

Concerns within the GOP are mounting. Voices ranging from MAGA-aligned pollster Richard Baris to billionaire GOP megadonor Ken Griffin are bracing for widespread losses this November. N