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Capitol agenda: Senate Dems’ last-minute shutdown gambit

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Senate Democrats are still not committing to helping Republicans pass a seven-month funding stopgap, edging the country closer to a government shutdown as they attempt to force a vote on a shorter funding patch.

After two days of lengthy closed-door caucus talks (and another planned for Thursday), Democrats emerged with an attempted strategy Wednesday afternoon: Democrats won’t give Republicans the votes to advance the stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, until they get an amendment vote on a “clean” CR through April 11.

Democrats have some leverage, despite being in the minority. In order to meet the Friday night deadline to avoid a shutdown, Republicans will need all 100 senators to agree to speed up the process. Republicans also need at least eight Democrats to overcome a filibuster and advance the CR.

We’ll see today if Democrats’ strategy holds. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has pushed for the April 11 CR, but hasn’t officially weighed in. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he did not believe Senate Democrats had made an offer, though he said “we’re open” to conversations about amendments.

But the Democrats’ gambit will likely do little except stave off the decision they have long dreaded: shut down the government to stand up to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s spending cuts or stand aside and leave their unilateral government reductions unchecked.

Republicans have one Democratic “yes” vote: Sen. John Fetterman. In the “no” column: Sens. John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner, Jeff Merkley, Chris Coons, Adam Schiff, Tim Kaine and Peter Welch. But keep an eye out for which Democratic senators will vote to proceed to consideration of the bill — where Republicans actually need Democratic support to get the necessary 60 votes — even if they won’t vote for passage — which only requires a simple majority.

Who we’re watching: Swing-state Sens. Mark Kelly, Elissa Slotkin, Ruben Gallego and Gary Peters. Kelly said Wednesday evening he was undecided on the procedural vote to advance the CR. Slotkin referred reporters back to her Sunday show comments, where she said she would “withhold” her vote until she got certain assurances about government cuts.

House Democrats have only added to the pressure on their Senate colleagues, after they voted almost unanimously against the funding bill Tuesday. During their annual issues conference on Wednesday, their message to Senate Democrats was clear: vote “no” on the continuing resolution.

“We’re standing on the side of working families,” Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said. “And that’s why our message to the Senate is: Also stand with us on that side.”

What else we’re watching:

  • Trump-senators budget meeting: House and Senate Republicans have yet to reach a deal on a budget plan that would set the framework for Trump’s legislative agenda — a source of tension ahead of a meeting today between GOP senators and Trump at the White House. That will include discussions on taxes and the current policy baseline issue — a budgetary loophole that the GOP is trying to use to argue that extending the Trump 2017 tax cuts costs nothing.
  • Senate Dems’ map issues: Democrats’ already difficult 2026 Senate map grew tougher Wednesday when New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said she wouldn’t seek reelection, leaving Schumer and his party to defend a third open seat in a blue-leaning swing state. And more departures could come, with Sen. Michael Bennet eyeing a run for governor and Sen. Dick Durbin on retirement watch. Durbin acknowledged to Lisa that the Senate map is “challenging,” but declined to share his own reelection plans.
  • Governors speak: Democrats start the second day of their issues conference today. Govs. Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro and Andy Beshear will speak to House Democrats at a closed-door event at their issues retreat at 7:30 p.m.

Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Benjamin Guggenheim, Ally Mutnick and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

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Congress

SAVE America Act is ‘No. 1 priority,’ Trump tells Republicans

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DORAL, Florida — President Donald Trump told House Republicans Monday to pass a major partisan elections bill a third time with new provisions, saying it should be the GOP’s “No. 1 priority” ahead of the midterm elections.

“It will guarantee the midterms,” Trump told lawmakers gathered at his golf resort. “If you don’t get it, big trouble, my opinion.”

The president spent 13 minutes at the close of a nearly hourlong address making crystal-clear he expects Speaker Mike Johnson and other top leaders to meet his demands. The House has already two passed versions of what is now called the “SAVE America Act” that would institute tough new citizenship and photo ID requirements for voting.

But Trump asked the gathered lawmakers to add in provisions curbing mail voting and targeting transgender rights — even it means abandoning the remainder of their legislative agenda before the November elections.

“Let’s go for the gold,” he said. “It’s actually a matter in a serious way of national survival. We can’t have these elections going on like this anymore.”

The already passed version of the SAVE America Act is awaiting a Senate vote. Majority Leader John Thune has committed to calling it up, but it is certain to be blocked by Democrats under the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Some conservatives, with Trump’s backing are looking to sidestep that obstacle with a “talking filibuster” that would force Democrats to hold the floor. Thune and other Senate Republicans are skeptical it would work without a rules change, but Trump said Monday failure was not an option.

“They have to get it done,” he said of the Senate. “If it takes you six months — I’m for not approving anything. … I don’t think we should approve anything until this is approved.”

Trump also endorsed a push by some House Republican hard-liners to attach a must-pass spy powers extension to the SAVE America legislation in a bid to pass both together — creating a nightmare for House GOP leaders who already face obstacles passing either bill.

He cast the voting and transgender provisions as proven political winners that Democrats would be hard-pressed to oppose, even though they have so far stayed almost entirely united against the legislation.

“That should be the easiest thing to get passed that you’ve ever had,” Trump said. “Those are best of Trump. This is the No. 1 priority, it should be, for the House.”

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Rising energy prices threaten cornerstone of GOP midterm pitch

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DORAL, Florida — The economic fallout from President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran is imperiling the GOP’s legislative sales pitch ahead of the midterms, with energy price spikes threatening at least some of the pocketbook gains Americans are seeing from the sweeping tax cuts Republicans enacted last year.

Analysts with the Wall Street advisory and investment firm Evercore ISI estimated Monday that the impact on household costs attributable to the current crisis could erase the tax benefits from the “big, beautiful bill” for at least the bottom 30 percent of Americans — even if oil prices come off their $100-plus-per-barrel highs.

Some top Republicans acknowledged rising energy prices are cause for political concern.

“The price of gas is always kind of a benchmark,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday. “I do think the fact that we’ve increased our supply here domestically will help ease it, but it’s something obviously we’ve got to pay attention to. And hopefully the operations in Iran … won’t be an extended situation.”

The impact of higher gas prices is hitting just as House Republicans gather for their annual policy retreat at Trump’s resort in Doral, Florida. The evidence could be seen just outside the gates, where regular gas was retailing at multiple stations for $3.59 per gallon — up about 70 cents from the Miami-area average on Jan. 1, according to GasBuddy.com.

The hope among Republicans gathered at the resort is that the crisis is short-lived, with several saying they believed Trump’s assurances that the supply bottlenecks caused by Iran’s effective blockade of the Persian Gulf would soon ease.

“I believe there’s a lot of emotion built into energy prices,” Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) said in an interview. “I would look for things to settle down very soon.”

But other Republicans granted anonymity to speak candidly expressed real alarm as crude oil prices surged to nearly $120 a barrel overnight before settling later in the day below $90 — still about 30 percent above recent lows.

“If you are a Republican and not concerned right now, you are stupid,” one House Republican said, adding, “Hopefully, we will square this away sooner than later.”

Another House Republican, asked if the wartime crisis threatened to overshadow the benefits of the GOP megabill, replied, “Hell yes.”

“The most sensitive thing amongst most driving Americans is the price of gasoline,” the person added, saying it threatens to send Americans “right up the wall.”

Trump is scheduled to address lawmakers in Doral shortly after markets close Monday, and they will be listening closely to his message on the hostilities in the Middle East and his plans to address high energy prices. He has announced plans to get oil shipments moving through the Gulf again, including by providing naval escorts for tankers and backstopping insurance for vessels.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement that oil prices will “drop dramatically once the objectives of Operation Epic Fury are achieved.”

“President Trump and his entire energy team have had a strong game plan to keep the energy markets stable well before Operation Epic Fury began, and they will continue to review all credible options,” she said.

But the president so far has shown little interest in pushing his party to foremost focus on legislation tackling affordability, as some of his political aides have advised. Instead, Trump is pressing Senate Republicans to pass a sweeping GOP elections overhaul bill — adding on demands for a near-complete ban on mail voting and unrelated policy provisions like banning transgender surgeries for minors.

Hours before taking the stage in front of House Republicans at his Florida resort, he reiterated his request.

Even before the oil price shock, Trump’s agenda had come with a hefty price tag for consumers. Analysts at the Tax Foundation have already determined that the president’s trade policies cost Americans $1,000 on average last year, matching the average size of refund checks that Trump officials say will ease cost-of-living concerns.

The Supreme Court struck down many of Trump’s tariffs, but those that remain are projected to cost households $600 on average this year, according to the nonpartisan think tank.

House Republican leaders are hoping to keep the annual policy retreat focused on their legislative priorities ahead of the midterms. Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, the GOP Conference chair, said ahead of the retreat she hoped to firm up the party’s messaging around last year’s megabill.

But going into the Doral resort Monday, members were trained on all the reasons they hoped the politically perilous price spike would be short-lived.

House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said in an interview that reopening the Iranian-controlled Strait of Hormuz “would be even better for energy prices, although we’re seeing obviously a peak right now with the war going on.”

Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) said the supply crunch was “not an existential threat to us because of all the things we’ve done to make ourselves self reliant in terms of energy resources,” while acknowledging the “fungible” nature of the global oil market. He was hopeful about more ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) said in an interview a “short-term gas price hike is … not what’s important.”

“What’s important is the long term benefits of having a peaceful Iran that means that gas prices will drop dramatically for the long term,” he said. “I’m not that concerned about it.”

Sam Sutton contributed to this report.

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Thune: Talking filibuster ‘more complicated and risky’ than people realize

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent a warning shot Monday over the talking filibuster, saying the procedural playcall is “way more complicated” than many supporters realize.

“This particular approach in terms of the process is much more complicated and risky than people are assuming at the moment,” Thune told reporters, cautioning that a talking filibuster without forcing through a formal rules change — for which there isn’t the votes — could take up months of Senate floor time.

Thune’s comments came after President Donald Trump urged the Senate to quickly take up and pass GOP-led voting legislation, known as the SAVE America Act — even if it means invoking a talking filibuster, which would force Democrats to physically hold the floor in order to block consideration of the bill.

Trump also pitched expanding the bill’s scope beyond voting to include red meat issues like banning men from participating in women’s sports and prohibiting gender affirming surgery for children. Thune said Monday it would “make sense” for the House to send an updated bill to reflect Trump’s latest priorities.

Thune is the target of a fierce online pressure campaign to skirt the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster — coming both from House Republicans and what the majority leader characterized Monday as a “paid influencer ecosystem.”

Part of the pitch from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and his allies has been that Republicans could force Democrats into a talking filibuster without having to officially change the Senate rules or precedents. Thune reiterated Monday that formally nuking the legislative filibuster is “not going to happen.”

“The one thing I’ve said all along and I’ve told him and others — that I can’t guarantee an outcome,” Thune said, referring to Trump. “I can’t guarantee a result if the result is only achieved by nuking the legislative filibuster. We don’t have the votes to do that, and so that’s just not a realistic option and I’ve made that clear to anybody who’s asked.”

But a significant number of GOP senators are also skeptical of a talking filibuster even without changing the Senate’s rules. Some believe the gambit would permanently weaken the 60-vote legislative filibuster. Others think the procedural option being floated by Lee and others is unworkable because it would let Democrats bog down the floor and potentially hijack the bill for any proposal for which they could get at least 50 votes.

“The process and how you ultimately try and get a result is still unclear to me based on all the research we’ve done,” Thune said Monday about invoking a talking filibuster, adding that conversations are still ongoing within the conference about the process.

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