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Capitol agenda: Trump may regret his revenge tour

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President Donald Trump notched more wins Tuesday in his revenge campaign against Republican lawmakers who’ve crossed him. But his victory lap may be short-lived.

In another stunning display of the president’s electoral power, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie lost his primary Tuesday night to Trump’s favored candidate, just days after the president’s sway knocked Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy out of his re-election race.

Trump on Tuesday also officially put Texas incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in his crosshairs by endorsing his primary challenger, scandal-plagued Ken Paxton, ahead of next week’s run-off in that state.

But several congressional Republicans are worried the president’s payback whims will cost the party control of the Texas seat as the GOP fights to retain the Senate. And some Republicans may be more willing to gum up Trump’s agenda after watching their colleagues, or themselves, get picked off by his hardball tactics.

— TEXAS IN TROUBLE: Trump’s long-awaited announcement backing Paxton over establishment Republicans’ preferred pick of Cornyn was met with shock and dismay among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Many of them now fear that keeping that Texas seat will be a more expensive and potentially futile endeavor.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she was “supremely disappointed” by Trump’s decision, which she said “puts that seat in jeopardy.”

Democrats quickly seized on Paxton’s likely nomination to say the party has a chance to win a Texas Senate race for the first time since 1988.

Rep. Ro Khanna told Blue Light News matching up Democratic nominee James Talarico with Paxton would create a “perfect storm” for Democrats, who already saw an opening given Talarico’s relatively broad appeal, massive fundraising haul and the political headwinds Republicans face.

— A DEFIANT CASSIDY: Trump’s primary retribution may also embolden lawmakers facing his wrath to hand the favor back to him.

Since losing his primary to Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming, Cassidy has both publicly opposed funding in the GOP-only reconciliation bill for Trump’s ballroom project and voted to rein in the U.S. military conflict in Iran (more on that below).

Murkowski said the president’s campaign against incumbents is “unprecedented.”

“Even though Bill Cassidy lost his primary, he is still a voting member of the Senate until January,” Murkowski said. “There are still many, many weeks — many months — to go before the election. And this president is going to have to continue to deal — and work with and partner with or battle with — this group of lawmakers.”

“Maybe he doesn’t think he needs us. But I don’t know, last time I checked, the laws don’t just appear before his desk to sign. The funding just doesn’t come,” Murkowski added.

Also Read: Donald Trump’s GOP revenge tour is complete

What else we’re watching: 

— TRUMP’S BALLROOM FUNDING SUPPORT WANES: A critical mass of Senate Republicans are publicly objecting to spending taxpayer money on a White House ballroom project. Sens. Cassidy, Murkowski, Thom Tillis and Susan Collins have all raised concerns about the ballroom security funding, possibly enough to eject the provision from the GOP’s fast-moving immigration enforcement bill. And several senators are privately opposed, according to five people granted anonymity to disclose private deliberations.

— SENATE WAR POWERS VOTE DEALS BLOW TO TRUMP: Senators voted Tuesday to advance legislation to rein in Trump’s military action in Iran, handing a surprise victory to Democrats. The legislation will need to clear several more steps before it can pass, giving Republicans opportunities to kill the measure in the coming days. But Democrats picked up another GOP defector in Cassidy, who supported the move to limit Trump’s power just days after the president’s efforts sunk his re-election campaign.

Liz Crampton, Andrew Howard, Connor O’Brien and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

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Congress

GOP preparing to strip out ballroom security funding

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Republicans are preparing to remove Secret Service funding from their party-line immigration enforcement bill, according to two people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions.

Both people stressed that the decision isn’t final — and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday morning that talks are still ongoing. But the expected decision comes as the Trump administration has struggled to sell GOP senators on the money, part of which would go toward President Donald Trump’s ballroom project.

Senate Republicans plan to discuss the matter at a closed-door lunch Wednesday afternoon.

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Congress

Trump demands Senate Republicans fire parliamentarian

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded Senate Republicans fire the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, after she ruled this weekend that Republicans could not include funding for the White House ballroom in an immigration enforcement bill.

Trump accused MacDonough of thwarting his agenda and urged Republicans to “get smart and tough,” escalating his long-running attacks on procedural hurdles inside Congress.

“Shockingly, Republicans have kept the very important position of ‘Parliamentarian’ in the hands of a woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed, long ago, by Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid, who ran the Senate for the Dumocrats with an ‘iron fist,’” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats — So why has she not been replaced?”

Obama did not have a say in MacDonough’s appointment in 2012.

The broadside came just days after MacDonough ruled that a provision allowing roughly $1 billion in White House and Secret Service security funding tied to Trump’s ballroom project could not be included in Republicans’ reconciliation package under Senate rules.

The decision was a significant setback for Republicans, who had hoped to pass the funding with a simple majority vote as part of a broader immigration and border security package. MacDonough determined that the provision requires 60 votes in the Senate, all but dooming the idea.

On Monday, Semafor reported that Trump called Senate Majority Leader John Thune, urging him to fire MacDonough.

Trump and his allies have argued the ballroom itself would be funded through private donations, while administration officials sought federal funding for related security upgrades, including hardened infrastructure, drone detection systems and Secret Service facilities.

On Tuesday, Trump defended the project amid mounting criticism from Democrats and skepticism from some Republicans over using taxpayer dollars for a project the president initially framed as privately financed.

During a tour of the construction site, Trump insisted the effort was “a gift to the United States of America” and said donors — not taxpayers — were paying for the ballroom itself.

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Johnson won’t say whether Jan. 6 rioters will be eligible for new ‘lawfare’ fund

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Speaker Mike Johnson refused to rule out whether individuals convicted as part of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol would be eligible to receive money from the Trump administration’s new “Anti-Weaponization Fund” — or say whether he would oppose a scenario where they would qualify.

“We don’t know any of the details of that settlement fund,” Johnson told reporters at a news conference Wednesday morning, pointing to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s testimony before the Senate. “He said they are setting up a fund to compensate all Americans who have been the subject, the target, of lawfare or weaponization of the federal government.”

In a Tuesday hearing intended to cover the president’s budget request for the Justice Department, Blanche also refusedto say whether those who assaulted Capitol Police would be eligible for money in the newly-created account. He said the payouts would be determined by members of a commission overseeing the fund, who are selected by the attorney general and have yet to be named.

“He did not say who will be eligible,” Johnson said of Blanche. “I’m not going to comment on that until it comes up.”

The $1.8 billion account was announced on Monday as part of a settlement with President Donald Trump in his lawsuit against the IRS. Trump had sued for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns. Democrats quickly cast it as a slush fund intended to enrich allies of the president, and even Senate Republicans have signaled skepticism.

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