House Budget Panel Rejects Trump Tax-cut Bill; New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Reacts to Transit Strike

House Republicans failed Friday to push their big package of tax breaks and spending cuts through the Budget Committee, as a handful of conservatives joined all Democrats in a stunning vote against it.

President Donald Trump departed Abu Dhabi on Friday following his tour of the Gulf region. Trump said on Friday the United Arab Emirates and the United States had agreed to create a path for the Gulf country to buy some of the most advanced artificial intelligence semiconductors from U.S. companies. Trump wrapped his Gulf tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE with a pledge by Abu Dhabi to hike the value of its energy investments in the U.S. to $440 billion in the next decade.

New Jersey rail engineers walked off the job after marathon contract talks stalled, setting off a strike at a transit system that serves some 350,000 rail passengers a day, including tens of thousands of commuters into New York City. At a Friday press conference, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy blamed the work stoppage on the union and said, "It did not have to come to this.”