Congress
House GOP tax writers maintain radio silence on their plans
House Republican tax writers were clamming up Wednesday about their tax plans, a sign that negotiations were getting serious as they prepared to go into a second day of close-door talks.
“I’m not talking about anything associated with our ongoing deliberations,” said the normally chatty Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah). “We’re in a new phase — everything was hypothetical three months ago.”
“I hope you’re not finding anybody who is willing to talk.”
Moore’s comments came as lawmakers on the Ways and Means Committee try to hash out their draft of a plan to address the expiration of some 40 expiring tax credits, along with additional tax proposals offered by President Donald Trump.
They met Monday for a lengthy policy session, amid Chair Jason Smith’s desire to get a bill — which would also include Trump’s energy, border and defense priorities — to the president’s desk quickly. The Senate, though, is just getting started.
Negotiations in the House have gotten far enough along that Ways and Means has begun eyeing when they might be able to unveil their plans and bring it before the committee to formally approve.
Some Republicans hope committee action would help generate momentum in other committees despite major questions over lawmakers’ stomach for spending cuts that are supposed to accompany their tax plans, and even though negotiations with the Senate over how to proceed are off to a creaky start.
Congress
House clears critical hurdle to advance three major priorities
House Republicans cleared the way for consideration of a key spy power sought by President Donald Trump — as well as the farm bill and the blueprint for funding immigration enforcement agencies that remain shuttered amid the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
It’s a major victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, whose chamber has been in a state of paralysis as lawmakers worked through Monday night and all Tuesday to reach an agreement with hard-liners to advance the three legislative priorities.
Lawmakers adopted the procedural measure Wednesday, 216-210, after fierce opposition from several members of the GOP conference over various issues related to the farm bill and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which will expire Thursday. Leaders spent over two hours on the floor flipping votes and wooing holdouts.
GOP leaders have been locked over the past week in intense negotiations with members who wanted to amend the program — which allows the government to surveil foreigners outside the U.S. without a warrant — to include guardrails on the warrantless surveillance of American citizens.
Many hard-liners have also been demanding a permanent ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a digital currency be added to any reauthorization. GOP leaders acceded to that demand, agreeing to combine the Section 702 extension with the digital currency ban upon passage. But the gambit is unlikely to survive in the Senate, where the issue has long been stalled.
“That’s not happening,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview about linking the two matters.
The successful procedural vote will also allow lawmakers to proceed to consideration of the latest farm bill — which would be the first blanket reauthorization of agriculture programs since 2018 — which GOP leaders hope to pass with help from several Democrats.
Some hard-liners are upset over GOP leadership’s plan to tack legislation onto the farm bill that would allow for year-round sales of the fuel blend known as E15 at the insistence of farm-state Republicans. Fiscal hawks balked at estimates showing it would cost $1 billion.
Republican leaders separately agreed to allow a floor vote on an amendment from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) that would remove a prohibition on states creating pesticide labeling laws that differ from EPA guidance — a major priority of health-focused Trump supporters.
Finally, the procedural vote sets up consideration of the fiscal blueprint the Senate adopted last week that would allow Congress to craft a budget reconciliation package addressing funding only for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, rather than a wider range of conservative priorities.
Republican leaders and the Trump administration insist the GOP needs to advance the Senate’s product without changes in order to quickly reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down since Feb. 14.
As with the farm bill, however, grumbling within the ranks remains, particularly among conservatives who want to expand the scope of the budget resolution to include other items on the GOP policy wishlist.
Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
Congress
Floor arm-twisting continues
The House floor has been frozen for more than an hour now as GOP hard-liners dig in against a procedural vote to move ahead with consideration of extending a government surveillance law, a farm bill and a budget blueprint for a party-line immigration bill.
GOP leaders have been seen huddling with holdouts on the House floor and have so far been able to flip Reps. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, and Andy Biggs and Eli Crane of Arizona. Speaker Mike Johnson will need to flip several holdouts to be able to proceed.
Five Republicans, however, are still standing firm. That includes Reps. Troy Nehls and Keith Self of Texas, as well as Reps. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. GOP leaders have been seen in huddles with the hard-liners, several of which have still not voted. Though a few have since voted for the rule after talking to GOP leaders.
Many Colorado Republicans also haven’t voted yet, with several of them concerned about small refinery language added to a E15 sales bill that will merge with the farm bill upon passage.
Congress
House Oversight sets date for Pam Bondi deposition
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will appear May 29 for a deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a panel spokesperson said Wednesday.
The announcement came after committee Democrats said they would pursue contempt charges against Bondi after she failed to appear for an earlier deposition as part of Oversight’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and the Department of Justice’s handling of the federal inquiry into the late convicted sex offender.
In a sign of Republican efforts to quickly preempt Democrats’ action, ranking member Robert Garcia of California was taken by surprise by the development during a news conference Wednesday morning to roll out the contempt resolution.
Since the bipartisan vote to compel Bondi’s testimony earlier this year, she has been ousted, and her former deputy, Todd Blanche, has assumed the role of acting attorney general.
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