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GOP senators signal they’re open to Patel leading FBI

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Few GOP senators are raising early opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel.

Even Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — who was outspoken against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) potentially becoming attorney general — didn’t immediately dismiss Patel on Monday, saying she’d need time to review his profile.

“I don’t know Kash Patel,” Collins said. “I had heard his name, but I don’t know his background, and I’m going to have to do a lot of work before reaching a decision on him. In general, I’ve found it’s important to review the background check, the committee work and the public hearing.”

Trump announced his selection of Patel to lead the FBI over the weekend. Christopher Wray, the current leader of the bureau who was originally appointed by Trump in 2017, has been confirmed to a term through 2027. That means Patel, if confirmed, would usurp Wray from the seat years ahead of schedule.

Trump can only afford to lose three Republican votes on any nominee if Democrats are unified in opposition.

Patel is a fierce and vocal supporter of Trump’s and served in the president-elect’s first administration as a staffer for the National Security Council. He was also a senior staffer for former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who repeatedly attempted to discredit the Russia investigation from his perch atop the House Intelligence Committee.

Patel has promised to purge the FBI of people he sees as unloyal to Trump and has indicated he would seek a near-total revamp of the agency. In Trump’s statement announcing his intent to nominate Patel, he commended the soon-to-be nominee for playing “a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.”

Trump has personally railed against the FBI, particularly after agents conducted a search for classified documents at his residence at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.

A number of GOP senators on Monday evening said they thought Patel could be confirmed. Soon-to-be Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said “the president ought to have who he wants serving in his administration.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he plans on meeting with Patel this week and is “in a presumptive positive position” over the nomination “right now.”

“I do think he will be able to get confirmed, absolutely,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has expressed reservations about Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to be Defense secretary.

Though there aren’t immediate signs of mass opposition to Patel’s nomination, there are some concerns about cutting Wray’s term short. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) noted Trump picked Wray himself for a 10-year term in 2017 and that the senator had no “complaints” or “objections” with the current leadership team.

“We provide advice and consent,” Rounds said on ABC’s “This Week.” “That can be sometimes advice, sometimes it is consent.”

Collins also noted she thinks Wray has done “a good job” as FBI director. Still, many Republicans disagree with that assessment, and some like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) insist “Kash Patel would be perfect to clean house over there.”

It is clear, however, that Trump cannot count on Democratic support to get Patel’s nomination across the finish line.

“He has said things about weaponization of law enforcement and reform in the FBI, which leads some to believe — I hope it’s not true — that he will take the same type of revenge politically that he’s accusing this administration of,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday.

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Congress

Senate prepares to take final megabill votes

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The Senate is on track to start voting on final amendments and passage of the GOP megabill.

“I believe we do” have a deal, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters.

There will be several amendments debated before the final vote, according to Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.). One, he said, would be from Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, challenging a provision negotiated to placate GOP holdout Sen. Lisa Murkowski dealing with the SNAP food-aid program in her home state of Alaska.

A final “wraparound” amendment reflecting other negotiated points is also expected to be offered that will tweak provisions dealing with Medicaid and clean energy tax credits.

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Trump wavers on July 4 megabill deadline

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President Donald Trump appeared to leave room to extend his July 4 deadline for Congress to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as the Senate scrambles to push through the legislation amid Republican infighting.

“I’d love to do July 4th, but I think it’s very hard to do July 4th,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn on Tuesday, before adding that the goal is “somewhere around there.”

The fate of the sweeping megabill remains up in the air, as Republican leaders struggle to secure enough votes to push the legislation through the Senate.

Trump has repeatedly sought to firm up GOP votes, blasting holdouts as “not good people” and not so subtly reminding Republicans not to go “too crazy,” because they “still have to get reelected.”

But even though the president and his allies have launched a pressure campaign to encourage movement from Republicans in the Senate, Trump began to waffle on the self-imposed July 4 ultimatum as it drew closer.

The president on Friday said the deadline was “not the end-all,” and that “it can go longer, but we’d like to get it done by that time if possible.”

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GOP clean-energy amendment won’t get a vote

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Sen. Joni Ernst said her closely watched amendment seeking to maintain wind and solar tax credits will not get a Senate vote before the anctipated passage of the GOP megabill.

“I don’t think they’re going to let us” offer the amendment, the Iowa Republican told reporters Tuesday morning as GOP leaders rushed to put finishing touches on the bill. “There’s a lot of stuff that went on overnight that kind of waylaid our plans.”

Ernst’s amendment would echo an earlier proposal to phase down the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean electricity production and investment tax credits for solar and wind generation projects by linking to when projects begin construction. It would also eliminate an excise tax proposed by Republicans that would penalize any wind and solar project placed into service after 2027 if it includes material assistance from China or other prohibited foreign entities.

Ernst was joined on the amendment by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

It’s possible that the amendment or part of it could be included in a final “wraparound” amendment GOP leaders are expected to offer ahead of a final vote. Murkowski, considered a swing vote on the overall bill, was in intensive talks early Tuesday morning with Majority Leader John Thune and other Senate leaders.

Josh Siegel, Kelsey Tamborrino and James Bikales contributed to this report.

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