Congress
GOP lawmakers stick with Trump in messy Musk breakup
Amid the messy ongoing divorce between the president and the world’s richest man, this much is already clear: Donald Trump has sole custody of the House GOP.
Republican lawmakers are making clear that, if forced to choose, it’s Trump — not Elon Musk — they’re sticking by as leaders race to contain the fallout for their “one big, beautiful bill.”
Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who helms a House panel inspired by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, blasted Musk’s public attacks on Trump as “unwarranted” and criticized his “lashing out on the internet.”
“America voted for Donald Trump on Nov. 4, 2024 — every single vote mattered just as much as the other,” Greene said in a brief interview. “And whether it was $1 that was donated or hundreds of millions of dollars, the way I see it, everybody’s the same.”
Like many Americans, GOP members watched Thursday’s online exchange with a sense of car-crash-like fascination. Many shared that they hoped Musk and Trump could somehow patch things up. But many — including some of the former DOGE chief’s biggest backers on Capitol Hill — were wholly unsurprised to see the billionaire suddenly cut down to size after months of chatter about who was really calling the shots at the White House.
“It’s President Trump, not President Musk,” said one lawmaker granted anonymity to speak frankly about prevailing opinions inside the House GOP.
Speaker Mike Johnson made no secret of where he stands on the public breakup.
He told reporters Friday that he hoped the two men “reconcile” and that it would be “good for the party and the country if all this worked out.” But in the nearly same breath, Johnson quickly reaffirmed his allegiance to the president and issued a warning to Musk.
“Do not doubt, do not second-guess and don’t ever challenge the president of the United States, Donald Trump,” Johnson said. “He is the leader of the party. He is the most consequential political figure of this generation and probably the modern era. And he’s doing an excellent job for the people.”
Other House Republicans concurred with the speaker’s assessment Friday, even as they faced the looming threat of Musk targeting them in the upcoming midterms or at least pulling back on his political giving after pouring more than $250 million into the 2024 election on behalf of Trump and the GOP ticket.
“I think it’s unfortunate,” said Rep. Tim Moore (R-N.C.) of the breakup. “But Donald Trump was elected by a majority of the American people.”
Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, who was one of only two Republicans to oppose Trump’s megabill in the House last month, also made clear he stood with the president over Musk.
“He does not have a flight mode — he’s fight, fight, fight … and he’s been pretty measured,” Davidson said of Trump. “I think Elon Musk looked a little out of control. And hopefully he gets back and grounded.”
GOP leaders who have spent weeks cajoling their members to vote for the sprawling domestic-policy bill hardly hid their feelings as Musk continued to bash the legislation online, even calling on Americans to call their representatives in an effort to tank it.
“Frankly, it’s united Republicans even more to go and defend the great things that are in this bill — and once it’s passed and signed into law by August, September, you’re going to see this economy turning around like nothing we’ve ever seen,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a brief interview Friday.
“I’ll be waiting for all those people who said the opposite to admit that they were wrong,” Scalise added. “But I’m not expecting that to happen.”
A few Republicans are still trying to walk a fine line by embracing both Trump and Musk — especially some fiscal hawks who believe Musk is right about the megabill adding trillions to the national debt.
“I think Elon has some valid points about the bill, concerns that myself and a handful of others were working to address up until the passage of it,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) said in an interview. “I think that’ll make the bill stronger. I think it’ll help our standing with the American people.”
Both Trump and Musk “have paid a tremendous price personally for this country,” Cloud added. “And them working together is certainly far better for the country.”
Notably, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, a key Musk ally on Blue Light News, declined to engage Thursday when asked about the burgeoning feud. Instead, the Ohio Republican responded by praising the megabill Musk had moved to tank.
Democrats, for their part, watched the unfolding and public breakup with surprise and a heavy dose of schadenfreude.
“There are no good guys in a fight like this,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). “You just eat some popcorn and watch the show.”
Congress
Florida Rep. Daniel Webster announces retirement
Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) announced Tuesday he will not seek reelection in November, joining dozens of lawmakers who have announced their retirement ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Webster, who has served in Congress since 2011 after a decadeslong career in the statehouse, said the decision came after much prayer and discussion with his wife, Sandy.
“The time has come to pass the torch to the next conservative leader and spend more precious time with my wife, children and 24 grandchildren,” Webster said in a statement.
Webster represented a red-leaning House district outside of Orlando after serving in the state Legislature, including as the first Republican state House speaker since reconstruction in Florida.
His forthcoming exit from Congress is unlikely to create a pickup opportunity for Democrats in November.
His retirement comes a day after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled newly drawn congressional maps designed to give Republicans an even larger advantage in the state, although Webster’s district was not changed dramatically.
Webster had been critical of the redistricting efforts, warning that it was a “slippery slope.”
“I’ve been around enough reapportionments to know it can come back and bite you,” Webster said last month.
Still, Webster said Tuesday that he plans to “finish strong.”
“There is much work left to do before this Congress closes and I am fully focused on finishing strong,” Webster said. “I will keep working to get bills over the finish line that will leverage private investment to finance public infrastructure projects; ensure America — not China or any other adversary — remains the leader in space exploration; and that the United States will set the standards that protect our technological advantages.”
Congress
Rules coming back
The House Rules Committee will reconvene at 1 p.m. as GOP leaders grow more confident they can break through an impasse that has ground the floor to a halt.
“We’re getting closer,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday, sticking with a plan that would have Republicans vote later in the day on a measure teeing up votes on the Section 702 spy law, a budget resolution setting up funding for Homeland Security agencies and the farm bill.
Scalise added that they are trying to work a ban on central bank digital currencies — a key demand of conservative hard-liners — into some legislative vehicle.
“We’re going have some late night votes tonight,” he said, due to King Charles III’s joint-meeting address Tuesday afternoon.
Congress
Capitol agenda: Mike Johnson’s week unravels
Speaker Mike Johnson’s week just started and it’s already falling apart.
Internal GOP strife forced Republican leaders late Monday to scrap a House Rules meeting that was supposed to set up critical floor votes on an extension of the Section 702 spy law, immigration enforcement funding and a farm bill. They planned to reconvene around 8 a.m. and try again.
At least 10 Republicans are threatening to oppose the rule vote teeing up the legislation — currently scheduled for 4:30 p.m. — over problems with Johnson’s three-year Section 702 reauthorization. And there are other issues with Republicans’ budget reconciliation plan and the farm bill.
Johnson is hoping he can pass the 702 extension shortly after 9 p.m., following a state dinner with King Charles III.
The fight over the spy law is more or less where it was earlier this month, when GOP hard-liners tanked a vote on an extension. They don’t believe leadership’s latest attempt at a compromise would go far enough to shield Americans from being caught up in warrantless surveillance under Section 702, which allows such surveillance of foreigners abroad. They also want assurances that there will be a ban on central bank digital currency.
The Senate is preparing to advance a three-year 702 extension around noon Tuesday as the House GOP stalemate threatens a lapse after Thursday’s deadline.
In a private House GOP meeting Monday night, GOP leaders tried to push Republicans to pass Johnson’s latest proposal as is. That suggestion only enraged some GOP hard-liners who are still opposed to the plan they argue is just a rework of the last one they tanked.
The farm bill is rife with GOP fights over amendments.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna threatened late Monday to “slaughter the farm bill” if pesticide provisions weren’t stripped out. MAHA advocates like Luna say the bill would shield pesticide companies from lawsuits, while farm state Republicans argue the measure would clarify labeling for critical and widely-used farm inputs.
Another farm bill problem is the continuing GOP fight over ethanol. Rules Committee Republican Reps. Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota, Randy Feenstra of Iowa and other midwestern GOP members are pushing for a vote on year-round sales of the E15 gasoline-ethanol blend.
As tempers flared, one Republican involved in the talks said the ethanol Republicans “went all in on an amendment” that failed to get consensus.
“Now they have to get something or else it’s probably lights-out for Feenstra’s governor bid and maybe a few House seats,” the person said.
“The incompetence is stunning,” House Rules ranking member Jim McGovern said in an interview. “We’re in the same place as we were last week.”
What else we’re watching:
— King’s speech prep: In his 20-minute address to Congress Tuesday, King Charles III is expected to tout the U.S.-U.K. relationship as one of “reconciliation and renewal” and “one of the greatest alliances in human history” — hitting a message that the two nations can promote security and prosperity for the world if they defend shared democratic values. Ahead of his 3 p.m. remarks, the king is scheduled to meet with the four top congressional leaders and have photo ops.
— Don’t bank on the ballroom: Republicans are clamoring for President Donald Trump to get his ballroom in the wake of Saturday’s shooting, but bills to greenlight it are going nowhere fast in Congress. Senate Democrats are unlikely to support a ballroom bill, and if Republicans try to go it alone they’ll face procedural and political hurdles that would make it difficult to tuck into their own party-line immigration enforcement bill.
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