Congress
Oversight Committee sends well wishes to ailing Gerry Connolly
The usually cutthroat House Oversight and Government Reform Committee put partisanship on a brief pause Wednesday morning to offer bipartisan prayers and support for outgoing ranking member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who unexpectedly announced Monday he will soon step aside amid the return of his esophageal cancer.
The panel started a contentious hearing on its portion of the GOP party-line megabill, including major overhauls to federal employee retirement benefits, with kind words for their absent colleague who represents more federal workers than any other member of Congress.
“We don’t always agree, but I will tell you, I think he is a tremendous legislator,” said committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.). “I think that Ranking Member Connolly is a role model for what a good member of Congress should be. He fights for what he believes in. He’s honest, and he tries to do what he thinks is best, and we, all the Republicans on our side of the aisle appreciate and respect Gerry Conley and wish him a speedy recovery.”
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), who was asked by Connolly to fill in as ranking member on an interim basis, stressed that Connolly — who also said he will not run for reelection — has not yet left his post.
“Gerry Connolly is still involved here, so he is whispering in my ear,” said Lynch. “I know it pains him greatly not to be part of this, but I hope that his presence and his love and his long time advocacy on behalf of federal employees has an impact on this hearing and on the votes that we will take from the course of this day.”
Tennessee Republican Rep. Tim Burchett asked his colleagues to join him in a prayer for the panel’s top Democrat.
“We just ask for his healing and thank you, Lord, for bringing him into our lives,” said Burchett. “We don’t agree on anything, but I love him like a brother.”
Congress
Financial Services Republicans approve CFPB cuts for GOP megabill
House Financial Services Republicans approved legislation Wednesday that would slash funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and dissolve the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board into the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of the party-line, GOP megabill that is central to President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The panel voted along party lines, 30-22, to advance its portion of the GOP package, which is expected to include sweeping tax, energy and border policy changes. Financial Services Republicans say their section of the bill will produce more than the $1 billion in savings it was instructed to find.
The measure would slash the amount of funding the CFPB has access to by almost 60 percent. The bureau’s funding, which is derived from the Federal Reserve, would be capped at 5 percent of the central bank’s operating expenses under the proposal — down from the current limit of 12 percent.
The legislation would also dissolve the U.S.’s top audit regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and fold it into the SEC.
Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) said at the markup that his committee “will do its part to reduce the deficit and decrease direct spending so that Congress can enact pro-growth tax policies.”
Democrats offered more than three dozen amendments that were shot down by Republicans throughout the nine-hour markup. They also put up procedural hurdles that slowed down the start of the meeting.
Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said Republicans on the committee were “co-signing” the Trump administration’s “destruction” by “helping Trump and co-president Elon Musk dismantle the agencies responsible for helping bring down costs,” including the CFPB.
Democrats offered an array of amendments aimed at bolstering the CFPB, which has been a longtime GOP target. They also offered provisions aimed at boosting the supply of affordable housing, protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve and targeting the Trump family’s crypto businesses.
“We are here because Donald Trump feels that he and Elon Musk are not rich enough, and we need to $4.5 trillion of tax cuts,” said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.). “They’ve realized politically that they can’t do that by cutting social security and defense, and all that’s left is massive cuts to everything else. And so … the dutiful soldiers are marching forward to cut the things that are subject to the jurisdiction of this committee.”
Republicans shot down every amendment along party lines, often saying they were not germane to the underlying bill. In order for this bill to be able to pass the Senate without Democratic votes through the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process, only policies that change spending or revenues can be included.
“The amendments are seeking to make policy changes that we simply cannot address today in this markup for reconciliation,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.). “Everything that we’re discussing and proposing in this bill has budgetary impacts, not policy impacts, and these budgetary impacts and savings are means to get our country back on track.”
Congress
Senate Republicans block rebuke of Trump’s tariffs
A Democratic effort to rebuff President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs failed Wednesday, thanks to two absent senators.
Senators voted 49-49 to reject the national emergency Trump used to impose tariffs of between 10 and 50 percent on many of the United States’ largest trading partners. It came on the same day the Commerce Department revealed that the economy shrank in the year’s first quarter, largely due to Trump’s trade policies.
Three Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the tariffs: Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul was a cosponsor of the resolution with Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.
Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were missing from the vote, leaving supporters of the resolution short of a majority. Whitehouse was absent because he was returning from the Republic of Korea, where he represented the U.S. at a conference on protecting the ocean from threats like climate change, pollution and overfishing.
McConnell, the former Republican leader, missed several votes Wednesday.
“The Senator has been consistent in opposing tariffs and that a trade war is not in the best interest of American households and businesses,” said David Popp, a spokesperson for McConnell. “He believes that tariffs are a tax increase on everybody.”
The vote was largely symbolic: The House has approved a rule to block a vote on the resolution and Trump has threatened to veto such a measure if it makes it to his desk. Still, the resolution’s failure hands Trump a victory as his administration tries to maintain support for the aggressive tariff platform among increasingly nervous Republicans.
Paul said he felt the vote was more about the debate than the result, because he knew it wasn’t likely to clear Congress.
“Most Republicans are just going along with it, but many of them are quietly still on the other side of this,” Paul said. “They just aren’t willing to say anything yet. But I think if we went through another quarter of negative growth and or another scare in the marketplace, I think there will be more visible voices against the tariffs.”
Yet even lawmakers who defended Trump’s tariffs acknowledged the uncertainty that has come with Trump’s attempts to upend the global trading order, an effort that has tanked consumer sentiment in the U.S. and spooked many businesses and investors.
“I appreciate that many of us in this chamber have heard from constituents concerned about the economic impact of the tariffs,” said Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee that oversees trade policy. “All of us are watching this issue closely and working with the administration to find ways to minimize its impact on Americans. We should also be working with the administration to address a shared objective: more opportunities for Americans in foreign markets and an end to discriminatory actions in foreign markets.”
Lisa Kashinsky and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
Congress
Hurdles remain for Republicans’ Medicaid quest
After a meeting Wednesday afternoon with vulnerable House Republicans wary of Medicaid cuts, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) acknowledged there are still obstacles to enacting major changes to the safety net program as part of the GOP’s massive megabill.
Lawmakers have been weighing a new plan to place so-called per capita caps on Medicaid funding to certain beneficiaries in states that have expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act. Guthrie told reporters Wednesday all options remain on the table at this point, but said there are still some opponents with whom he has not yet spoken.
“We’ve had a couple of comments from some people saying that seems to be too far for them to go,” Guthrie told reporters, adding that the sheer scale of work being done by Republicans as they try to extend Trump’s tax cuts and beef up border enforcement can add to confusion for lawmakers.
“The issue with everything that’s going on here is that the Ways and Means, Agriculture committees and others are all doing things and a lot of people aren’t exposed to it and they hear things,” Guthrie said. “I sit down and walk through some policy options and I think I made people feel more comfortable with where we are. We’re not going to do anything that’s drastic.”
The Energy and Commerce Committee has been tasked with finding $880 billion in cuts, meaning they will likely have to lean heavily on Medicaid to achieve those savings.
In the closed-door meeting, Guthrie ticked through current options Republicans were considering, but only verbally, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Earlier in the week, Energy and Commerce Republicans were treated to a formal slide deck laying out different policy options. Lawmakers at the meeting Wednesday asked for a list of the proposals but still have yet to receive anything.
Asked if his committee is still on track to mark up its portion of the bill next week as planned, Guthrie said, “we’re working.”
Guthrie also said he hasn’t spoken with Trump yet, but he’s looking to arrange that.
Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.), who met with Guthrie Wednesday, said in an interview that the plans for the markup are still “fluid.” He said lawmakers are considering at least two types of work requirements, one optional and the other mandatory for states to adopt.
“There are a lot of different proposals flying around, a lot of evolution to this,” Bresnahan said. “We just need to get a handle on what it actually means and boiling it back down to my district.”
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) said Wednesday that Republicans could hit $370 billion in savings from work requirements, kicking noncitizens off rolls and more frequent eligibility checks.
Guthrie is planning to meet with House Freedom Caucus members later Wednesday evening, as the hard-liners push for steep spending cuts across the program.
Robert King contributed to this report.
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