EXCLUSIVE: The chairman of the largest House GOP caucus is using Tax Day to send a warning about the financial strain American families could face next year if Republicans fail in their plans for a massive conservative policy overhaul.

Republican Study Committee (RSC) Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that millions of Americans could see their taxes increase by as much as one-fifth if Congress does not pass a budget reconciliation bill extending President Donald Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

"If Democrats get their way and let these tax cuts expire, Americans will be crushed by the largest tax hike in history – a 22% increase hitting 40 million families and 26 million small businesses," Pfluger said. 

"It's time to lock in these historic tax cuts permanently to boost job creation, fuel America's economic engine, and protect family budgets from the Left's tax-and-spend agenda."

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The RSC acts as the House GOP's de facto conservative think tank and has more than 175 members. Pfluger reiterated that the group is "fighting to make President Trump's historic Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, so families can keep more of their hard-earned money instead of sending it to the IRS."

Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, chair of the RSC budget task force, said extending the TCJA and enacting Trump's other tax policy initiatives would help the U.S. become "the most advantageous country in which to invest, relocate, or expand a business" as well as helping families and businesses domestically.

"These vital, pro-growth tax reforms will work alongside our efforts to slash federal regulations and bureaucracy to empower economic expansion and financial security for the American people and our job creators," she said.

Tax reform is a cornerstone of Republicans' efforts on reconciliation, a mechanism that allows the party controlling the major levers of government to enact sweeping fiscal and budgetary changes. It does so by lowering the Senate's threshold for advancing legislation from 60 votes to 51, provided the matters in the bill deal with taxes, spending and the national debt.

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In addition to extending the TCJA tax cuts, Trump also wants Republicans to eliminate taxes on tipped and overtime wages, as well as on Social Security benefits for retirees.

House Republicans passed a framework last week to sync up with the Senate on its budget reconciliation bill, which now allows the relevant congressional committees to begin work filling out that framework with policy.

But congressional Republicans have a long road ahead to get a bill passed in both the House and Senate, where their majorities are currently three seats each. The House version calls for at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, while the Senate's baseline is $4 billion – though Republicans there vowed to strive for more.

Extending TCJA alone would decrease federal revenues by $4.5 trillion, according to the Tax Foundation, and House conservatives are leading the charge in demanding steep government funding cuts to offset that.

The RSC steering group, the group's leadership arm, released an official position earlier this year calling for reconciliation legislation to be deficit-neutral. 

At the same time, however, failing to extend Trump's tax cuts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections could have politically devastating consequences, while stoking fears of an economic downturn when compounded with the added cost of Trump's sweeping tariffs.

"If the tax cuts expire, the median family would lose about $1,000," Kimberly Clausing, nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Fox News Digital earlier this month, citing a model from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. 

And if the recently unveiled tariffs continued unabated at the time, "that would generate an average per household consumer loss of $3,800," she added, pointing to the Yale Budget Lab's estimate. Trump has since walked back much of his reciprocal tariff policy. 

The House Ways and Means Committee, the House's tax-writing panel, released a memo late last year with a similar warning to Pfluger's on a potential tax hike if TCJA is not extended.

"Congress needs to act swiftly to take this threat of a tax hike off the table and give the American people assurances that the relief they have been demanding has arrived," the December memo said.

None of the frontier AI research labs have presented any evidence that they are on the brink of achieving artificial general intelligence, no matter how they define that goal, but Google is already planning for a “Post-AGI” world by hiring a scientist for its DeepMind AI lab to research the “profound impact” that technology will have on society. 

“Spearhead research projects exploring the influence of AGI on domains such as economics, law, health/wellbeing, AGI to ASI [artificial superintelligence], machine consciousness, and education,” Google says in the first item on a list of key responsibilities for the job. Artificial superintelligence refers to a hypothetical form of AI that is smarter than the smartest human in all domains. This is self explanatory, but just to be clear, when Google refers to “machine consciousness” it’s referring to the science fiction idea of a sentient machine. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Elon Musk, and other major and minor players in the AI industry are all working on AGI and have previously talked about the likelihood of humanity achieving AGI, when that might happen, and what the consequences might be, but the Google job listing shows that companies are now taking concrete steps for what comes after, or are at least are continuing to signal that they believe it can be achieved. 

Part of the problem is that AGI is a loosely defined term and goal. According to The Information, a 2023 document from OpenAI and Microsoft defined AGI as an AI system that can generate up to $100 billion in profit, which seems entirely removed from any scientific benchmark. Earlier this year, Altman wrote that OpenAI is confident it knows how to build AGI “as we have traditionally understood it” and that the company believes that in 2025 we’ll see the first AI agents “join the workforce.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later downplayed this type of AGI definition, saying “Us self-claiming some AGI milestone, that’s just nonsensical benchmark hacking to me.” 

As other critics have previously pointed out, AGI and the massive impact it could theoretically have on society is also a useful marketing strategy for AI companies, allowing them to hype up their value based on something that may or may not happen in the future, while distracting from the actual problems and harm their AI system are actively causing as they exist.

Google’s job listing appears to prepare the company for the most ambitious, science fiction-y interpretation of AGI. Other key responsibilities for the job include “research projects exploring the influence of AGI on domains such as economics, law, health/wellbeing, AGI to ASI, machine consciousness, and education,” conducting “in-depth studies to analyze AGI's societal impacts across key domains,” and building “infrastructure and evaluation frameworks for a systematic evaluation of AI's societal effects.”

The job listing comes shortly after Deepmind published a report in early April about “taking a responsible path to AGI.” The report, which states that “AI that’s at least as capable as humans at most cognitive tasks, could be here within the coming years,” details how Google is “taking a systematic and comprehensive approach to AGI safety, exploring four main risk areas: misuse, misalignment, accidents, and structural risks, with a deeper focus on misuse and misalignment.”

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Virtue AI, a new AI startup focused on AI safety and security, just came out of stealth with $30 million in combined Seed and Series A funding. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Walden Catalyst Ventures, with […]

The post AI startup Virtue AI launches with $30M to help enterprises deploy generative AI without security risks first appeared on Tech Startups.

• A couple of NATO allies are exploring alternatives to the F-35 stealth fighter.
• A handful of countries that operate the aircraft told BI that they are still committed to the jet.
• Analysts said there aren't many good reasons to walk away from the program just yet.

The Trump administration stirred up some turbulence for the F-35 stealth fighter program, but even though a couple of allies have expressed uncertainty, there hasn't been a wave of partners jumping ship, at least not yet.

The Trump administration's dismissive attitude toward Europe's defense and other tensions saw Canada and Portugal reconsider their interest in the F-35 stealth fighter jet — a fifth-generation plane made by US defense giant Lockheed Martin and one of America's top weapons exports.

It opened the door to a possible European alternative to the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. Saab has signaled that there are talks underway about the JAS 39 Gripen fighter.

Other countries that operate the F-35 told Business Insider that they have no plans to walk away from the platform right now. Some emphasized their commitment to the fighter and desire to preserve the close defense cooperation with the US.

Lockheed has said that F-35 sales matters are between the US government and buyers.

The F-35 is in service with militaries around the world and has seen extensive combat experience since its first flight roughly 20 years ago. The world's most expensive weapons program is grappling with maintenance and sustainability challenges, but it is considered a top fifth-generation fighter.

Portugal's defense minister said last month that it should reconsider replacing its F-16s with F-35s. He said the US stance on security issues is concerning. Shortly after, Canada's defense chief said Ottawa would look into possible F-35 alternatives amid tensions with the Trump administration over tariffs and other threats.

Both Portugal and Canada are NATO allies, although Lisbon is not currently an F-35 customer. Ottawa, meanwhile, is an original program participant, which puts it in a somewhat unique position.

A Canadian defense ministry spokesperson previously told BI the country is not canceling its planned F-35 procurement; aircraft deliveries are set to begin next year. They said that the military is "in the early stages of scoping the review in a way that is both efficient and thorough."

So far, Portugal and Canada are the only two countries to publicly suggest they could pivot away. The defense ministries of four F-35 program participants — the UK, Australia, Denmark, and the Netherlands — expressed their continued support for the plane in statements to BI last month.

The UK said that the F-35 is part of its new defense industrial strategy. Australia said it was "committed to continued investment" in the aircraft. Denmark and the Netherlands specifically highlighted their close cooperation with the US and their intentions to preserve the relationship.

Poland, another customer, said its F-35 program will continue on schedule. A defense ministry spokesperson told BI: "Currently, there are no decisions on the possible termination of the agreements signed with the American side."

Germany, likewise, has signaled it is sticking with the program as well. Berlin is waiting for an order of 35 F-35s.

Sticking with the F-35 for now

Analysts pointed to several reasons why countries are staying with the F-35, among them being the commitment to the program and the amount of work that would be required to pivot away from the aircraft to something new.

Richard Aboulafia, an aviation expert and managing director of the US consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, explained that many countries already have a large number of F-35s they've ordered and have paid for the planes even if they haven't yet been delivered.

"It's too late to turn back. What can they say?" he told BI.

Aboulafia also said that the F-35 is a better fighter than any of its competition (like the Eurofighter Typhoon jet), and allies would need "very strong reasons" to abandon the aircraft.

Increasingly capable surface-to-air missile systems and fighter upgrades make fifth-generation capabilities appealing, especially as sixth-gen capabilities are still years away.

The contract for the first US sixth-gen fighter aircraft, the F-47, was only recently awarded. And despite claims to the contrary, drone technology isn't to the point that it can replace sophisticated crewed fighters.

Unlike the fourth-generation fighters, the F-35 features all-aspect stealth, advanced avionics, high-end sensors, and networking solutions, giving the jet the ability to execute a range of missions, from air-to-air combat to strike, and also quarterback a fight.

The jet comes in three variants. The F-35A features a cannon, the F-35B is capable of short-takeoff/vertical landing that is useful for amphibious assault ships and some European aircraft carriers, and the F-35C is built for US Navy carrier operations.

Allies overseas operate the A and B variants. Japan has an order for over 100 F-35As and more than 40 F-35Bs, which can be operated from its Izumo-class destroyer vessels. The UK has bought Bs for its Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.

US allies and partners have been able to find key combat solutions for a wide range of missions using the F-35's capabilities. Israel, for example, demonstrated the F-35's combat power in impactful strikes on Iran.

Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and a senior advisor on defense and security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the F-35's maintenance, training, and parts supply process are too extensive and expensive for a country to change plans on a dime.

"Most countries struggle to maintain a single fighter aircraft. They could not support two different supply chains and training pipelines," Cancian told BI.

While other countries have yet to abandon the F-35 program, they might possibly decide to do so down the road if a more viable alternative presents itself. Right now, though, the jet is really the only fifth-generation aircraft in town, the only option available to the US and its allies.

Aboulafia said some F-35 customers may still have a question mark looming over them. He stressed that the bigger issue is that larger customers still buying F-35s, like the UK and Japan, could shift their focus to other multinational efforts to develop fighter aircraft.

Two potential examples are the Global Combat Air Programme, a project led by the UK, Italy, and Japan to jointly build a sixth-generation fighter, and the KAI KF-21 Boramae, a South Korean-led initiative.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is set to launch a new trade-in promotion at its stores this week. Gurman says Apple will offer a 10% discount (up to $20 off) on the purchase of new Apple accessories, including AirPods, AirTags, Apple Pencil and more, when the buyer recycles an item that otherwise would not be eligible for trade-in credit.

He says the scheme will be officially announced tomorrow, and run for a month. It sounds like this promotion is timed to commemorate Earth Day, which is officially held on 22 April this year.

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