Congress
Capitol agenda: Dems try to twist knife in Trump-GOP tensions
A marathon vote series on the Senate floor Thursday could be a big test of President Donald Trump’s ability to get his agenda through Congress after wracking up a body count of lawmakers who have crossed him.
Senate Republicans are expected to bring their party-line immigration enforcement funding bill to the floor today after months of negotiations. But they still need to run through a procedural gauntlet of votes by Democrats who are eager to spotlight growing divisions between the president and members of his own party.
The votes come at a particularly sour time for Senate Republicans, many of whom are still reeling from the president’s successful primary challenge last weekend ending Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s two-term career in the chamber and his late-breaking endorsement Tuesday undercutting Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s reelection bid.
GOP frustration with Trump and the White House’s handling of the reconciliation bill was already boiling up this week, with Republicans expected to deal a blow to the president by stripping a prized ballroom security funding provision, POLITICO scooped.
Republicans have also shrugged off Trump’s calls to fire the Senate’s parliamentarian, who earlier ruled against inclusion of the ballroom funds to the bill.
Now Democrats will look to the “vote-a-rama” process to crank up the pressure and squeeze vulnerable Republican incumbents on a range of Trump priorities and controversies.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said Democrats will offer amendments related to high costs of living, masked immigration raids, the Iran war, “secret payouts, cop-beater checks, ballroom favors, and Trump family corruption.”
High on Democrats’ amendment list: Attacking the Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which many Republicans were already uneasy about. Democrats have called the money a “slush fund” for Trump allies after officials didn’t rule out that the pot could go toward those charged with storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Democrats are considering multiple strategies, including potentially trying to block the fund outright or ban any payments to Trump supporters who beat law enforcement officers that day, according to Schumer. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he will offer an amendment to prevent Jan. 6 defendants or child sex offenders from getting payments.
It’s not just the fund that Democrats are planning to target. Sen. Adam Schiff’s list of amendments will include measures to discharge overdue disaster aid in California and other states still awaiting funds from FEMA, Jordain scooped.
Republicans meanwhile are working on their own proposal — which they could put in the yet-to-be unveiled reconciliation bill or offer as an amendment — to restrict the weaponization fund in an effort to get ahead of Democrats’ demands, according to two people granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Republicans are also likely to pitch other amendments: Sen. Josh Hawley has vowed to offer an amendment to extend a ban on Planned Parenthood funding; and Sen. John Kennedy is expected to try to attach Trump’s election security-focused SAVE America Act.
Senators will try to power through the multi-hour vote and deliver the bill to the House by Friday, letting members leave town for the Memorial Day break.
What else we’re watching:
— SENATORS SEARCH FOR HOUSING BILL COMPROMISE: The White House is telling the Senate to pass the embattled housing affordability package that overwhelmingly cleared the House on a 396-13 vote Wednesday. Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott and ranking member Elizabeth Warren signaled they are still pushing for changes.
— DEMS LOOK FOR ANOTHER WAR POWERS WIN: GOP defectors could hand Democrats a war powers success in the House today after delivering a win in the Senate Tuesday. Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to whip against the resolution, but the final tally could ultimately come down to which lawmakers show up to the floor.
Jennifer Scholtes, Katherine Hapgood, Connor O’Brien and Leo Shane III contributed to this report
Trump-endorsed Marty O’Donnell won the GOP primary Tuesday to take on Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in Nevada’s battleground 3rd District.
The seat, which touches parts of Las Vegas, is one of Republicans’ targeted pickups this November since President Donald Trump carried it by less than 1 percentage point in 2024 after losing it by nearly seven points in 2020.
But O’Donnell — who also has the backing of the National Republican Congressional Committee — will face an uphill battle. He recently came under fire for hosting a neo-Nazi influencer on his podcast. Trump’s tariffs have hit the district hard, with Canadian tourism to Sin City down by 17 percent, leaving Democrats confident they can hold the seat.
O’Donnell is best known for his role as the audio composer for the “Halo” video game series. It’s his second run in the district after placing fourth in the 2024 Republican primary.
O’Donnell bested several candidates Tuesday, with businessperson Tera Anderson and former Ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter — who ran for Senate in 2024 — putting up the most significant challenges.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is on his way to clinching his fifth term in the Senate.
Graham won the Republican primary for Senate on Tuesday, vanquishing five opponents that included businessperson Mark Lynch — who challenged the senator over his staunch support for the war in Iran and long history in Washington. Lynch also drew support from some of the president’s most prominent MAGA Republican critics.
But Graham won more than half the primary vote, allowing him to avoid an embarrassing two-week runoff sprint. He is expected to cruise to victory in November; a Democrat has not represented the state in the Senate since 2005, when longtime Sen. Fritz Hollings chose not to seek reelection.
The four-term senator spent big in the final weeks of the campaign to make sure he won, combining with his allies to spend over $18 million in television and digital ads touting his record and endorsement from President Donald Trump. That spending proved to be decisive in staving off Lynch’s challenge from the right.
He even called in the big guns for a last minute bump, bringing in Trump, who reaffirmed his support for his occasional frenemy in a telerally on the eve of the primary election.
Graham’s success is a loss for the strict “America First” wing of the GOP that has criticized the president’s new interventionist foreign policy streak, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and former counterterrorism official Joe Kent. They came out in support of Lynch during the final stretch of the campaign, though that was not enough to upset Graham, a fixture of Columbia and Washington politics.
Twenty House Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson to help pass a Democratic-led bill Tuesday aimed at making it easier for workers to form unions, widening the divide between a bloc of pro-labor Republicans and GOP leaders.
Democrats successfully used a discharge petition to sidestep Johnson and force the vote with the help of a handful of House Republicans, including Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Nick LaLota of New York.
“It’s passing,” Fitzpatrick said before the vote when asked about Johnson’s efforts to whip Republicans against the bill.
The Faster Labor Contracts Act aims to reduce the amount of time between workers voting to form a union and negotiating their first collectively bargained contract, in part by requiring the parties to more quickly enter federal mediation. It’s the latest in a series of employment bills that pro-union House Republicans have bucked their party on in recent months.
House Education and Workforce Chair Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) spoke out sharply against the bill on the floor Tuesday, saying it would “threaten jobs, kill growth and in some cases, shut business down entirely.” But a hefty subset of Republicans backed the bill nonetheless, joining all voting Democrats.
- Platner romps to victory in Maine Democratic primary, will face Collins despite controversies
- Ex-Fox News host will advance in California governor’s race, facing Becerra for Newsom’s seat
- U.S., Iran exchange airstrikes following downing of Army helicopter
- Tuesday’s Mini-Report, 6.9.26
- House passes immigration reconciliation bill — without blocking Trump’s compensation fund
- Trump-backed Marty O’Donnell wins primary for battleground Nevada House seat
- Sen. Lindsey Graham wins primary over ‘America First’ challenger
- US to reach $41T debt ceiling as soon as late winter, forecasters predict
- The Democratic establishment begrudgingly moves to embrace Graham Platner
- Teresa Benitez-Thompson wins crowded Dem primary for Nevada House seat
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