Congress
House will vote Thursday on expected-to-fail surveillance patch
The House will vote Thursday on a three-week extension of a key surveillance program a day ahead of its expiration, Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday.
But leaders of both parties expect the measure to fail, risking a first-ever lapse of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as the House prepares to leave for recess until June 23.
The extension through July 2 is set to be debated Wednesday night under suspension of the rules, a fast-track House procedure that requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
But the vast majority of Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, say they will not support a punt so long as President Donald Trump stands by plans to appoint a close political ally with no national security experience as his acting director of national intelligence. There is also a small but stubborn group of GOP holdouts who would oppose any attempt to pass an extension under regular order procedures.
“I certainly hope that everyone will do the right thing, put politics aside, for a short-term extension,” Johnson said Wednesday. “We’re not asking for anything heroic here.”
Johnson’s announcement of the Thursday morning vote capped a confusing back-and-forth between the two chambers Wednesday. Less than an hour before, he had said in an interview that “the ball’s in the Senate’s court.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, in turn, said in an interview he expected the House would need to move first on a short-term extension.
“We’ll see kind of again what they can come up with over there,” Thune said.
But by Wednesday evening it was clear that regardless of which chamber voted first, the necessary bipartisan coalition to pass an extension simply did not exist.
Senate Democrats quickly poured cold water on the proposed three-week extension, citing Trump’s decision to double down Wednesday on plans to install housing official Bill Pulte as acting DNI.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who helped negotiate a three-year extension that has been thrown into limbo, said Trump should name Aaron Lukas, the Senate-confirmed deputy director of the office, the acting director instead of Pulte to ease the path for a short-term patch.
“If he is the acting director during this short-term extension, that’s within the law, and I could be supportive,” Warner said of Lukas.
Should the House leave for its recess after voting Thursday as planned, the Section 702 spy program allowing for warrantless surveillance of foreign sources would lapse for at least a week as World Cup games begin in multiple U.S. cities and the nationwide America 250 celebration approaches. The White House has been prepping an executive order that may cover some aspects of the intelligence data collection in the meantime, according to senior Republicans.
Rep. Max Miller issued a subpoena to his former father-in-law and fellow Ohio Republican, Sen. Bernie Moreno, in the latest escalation of a long-running family legal drama.
Pamela MacAdams, an attorney for Miller, reported to the Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court Monday that three subpoenas were served in Miller’s divorce case, according to court records. A person with knowledge of the subpoenas granted anonymity to comment on them said that two were sent to Moreno and his wife, Bridget.
Their daughter, Emily Moreno, was married to Miller, and the two remain embroiled in a nasty legal battle.
Spokespeople for Miller, Emily Moreno and Bernie Moreno did not immediately return requests for comment. TMZ first reported on the subpoenas.
Miller is seeking reelection in a competitive district, and his campaign has been marred by accusations of domestic abuse against Emily Moreno and their daughter. Miller has repeatedly denied the allegations and chose to remain in the race despite other Republican lawmakers pressuring him to withdraw his campaign.
The House Ethics Committee, which began an inquiry into Miller after Miller asked to be investigated, is currently in a preelection blackout period. During that period, which will continue through the midterms, the Ethics Committee doesn’t take any action against sitting members who could return next Congress.
Congress
Trump declares $1B canceled in ‘pocket rescission’ in another affront to Congress’ funding power
President Donald Trump informed congressional leaders Friday that he has unilaterally canceled almost $1 billion without Congress’ consent — employing a budget maneuver many lawmakers consider illegal.
In a move that will almost certainly set up an ugly government funding battle after the midterms, Trump has again claimed the power to execute a so-called “pocket rescission” to nix money Congress has already enacted. The money his administration will claw back is for for immigration services, support to foreign countries, education programs, health research efforts and assistance for businesses owned by minorities.
By law, the president is allowed to send Congress a request to rescind federal funding, then withhold that money for 45 days while lawmakers consider whether to approve, reject or ignore it. Trump administration officials also argue they have the power to cancel funding without any congressional action by sending Congress a rescission request with less than 45 days left in the fiscal year. The argument is that the money automatically gets canceled on Sept. 30, when funding lapses at the end of the fiscal year.
Last year, Trump canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid.
The Senate’s top Republican appropriator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, immediately blasted the move as illegal, saying in a statement Friday night that “any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”
“This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law,” Collins added, pledging to work with other lawmakers “to address these illegal actions.”
Collins and other appropriators have already been on high alert in recent days, pressing multiple agencies about funding officials have yet to spend ahead of the expiration date.
Democrats are finally catching on to how to talk to young male voters in the lead-up to the midterms, but the party can still up its game, one battleground senator and potential 2028er said Friday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has been one of his party’s most outspoken critics on its handling of outreach to young men, who swung right and helped deliver the White House and both chambers of Congress to Republicans in 2024.
The party is now “definitely moving in the right direction,” Gallego said Friday.
“Like back in the day, I was like the only one,” putting out positions on men, Gallego said at a Washington event on young American men. “Now, like, it seems like everyone every week is coming out with a new position, new idea, which is great.”
Gallego has criticized Democrat’s failure to highlight mens’ struggles and their tendency to over-police mens’ ideas. But there are signs the political winds have shifted in his party’s favor.
A new Cygnal poll released with the event of men ages 18-30 who say they’re the most determined to vote revealed Democrats’ generic ballot lead over Republicans at 57%-40%, Blue Light News reported. The poll also said nearly 40 percent of respondents said they feel their lives are off track.
“We need to take the opportunity to invest in that portion of this country, to say that we care about them and actually try to change the trajectory of what’s happening with men in this country,” Gallego said at the symposium.
Still, the path for specific legislation targeting the needs of this demographic faces an incredibly tight calendar this Congress and is uncertain in the political landscape of next year.
A proposal from Gallego and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) to establish a men’s health office within the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, has not advanced. Nor has bipartisan legislation from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also spoke at the event, targeting education outcomes, college investment transparency and dyslexic student support.
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