Congress
Capitol agenda: Sprinting toward a megabill vote
The pieces could finally be falling into place for Speaker Mike Johnson to pass his “big, beautiful bill” as soon as Wednesday.
Johnson and a group of blue-state Republicans struck a tentative deal late Tuesday to boost the cap on state-and-local-tax deductions to $40,000, according to three Republicans with direct knowledge — a huge breakthrough in the negotiations.
House Freedom Caucus members appear willing to swallow that offer, and it’s a positive sign they aren’t saying “no” off the bat. Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.) left the speaker’s office Tuesday night saying he’s “for zero SALT, personally” but wants to see “what’s the give and take” from the final negotiations.
Here’s one sweetener leadership has presented the hard-liners: Johnson’s team is working to accelerate the phase-out of clean energy tax credits created by the Democrats’ 2022 climate law. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters Tuesday night the bill would “limit dramatically any new projects from starting” using Inflation Reduction Act incentives.
Privately, some of the conservative holdouts are looking for just such an offramp, eager to find a “yes” while also proclaiming victory on their issues. Rep. Glenn Grothman (Wis.) left the speaker’s office Tuesday saying it would “take guts” for Republicans to sink President Donald Trump’s bill on the House floor.
“If you’re in Mike Johnson’s office, it’s easy to say, I’m going to vote no,” Grothman said, adding it’s a lot harder to actually do it.
What Johnson needs to resolve before a floor vote: Fiscal hawks also want deeper cuts to Medicaid, which would be a red line for moderates — and probably even for Trump, who yesterday morning told House Republicans not to “fuck with” the safety-net program. It’s unclear if the rest of the conference will accept the current SALT agreement.
And we’re still waiting on final bill text to reflect any of these changes, which will be bundled into a “manager’s amendment” to be taken up by the House Rules Committee. The GOP-led panel convened at 1 a.m. to begin debate on the massive tax and spending package in hopes of being able to pave the way for a floor vote in the coming hours.
Other required reading:
— The megabill got a preliminary Congressional Budget Office report amid Tuesday night negotiations that predicted the legislation would lead to increased assets for the richest Americans, while reducing them for the lowest-income households through cuts to federal spending on Medicaid and food aid. That’s sure to fuel attacks from Democrats.
— Even if Johnson can pull off passing the megabill through the House, he’s about to face plenty of headaches in the Senate.
What else we’re watching:
— DC voting bill: The House Oversight Committee will vote on a bill at 10 a.m. that would prohibit noncitizens from voting in the District of Columbia. The bill has significant bipartisan appeal: It passed the House last year with the support of 52 Democrats.
— EPA waiver repeal: Republicans are poised to vote Wednesday to overturn the three EPA waivers that the GAO found don’t qualify as a rule that can be reversed with a Congressional Review Act resolution. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso privately made the case to Republicans that the fight over whether to nix California’s emission standards was really about the Senate making a decision about how to wield its own power.
Rachael Bade, Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill and Ben Leonard contributed to this report.
The chair of the House Agriculture Committee said he’s not willing to “accept bad results” as a tradeoff for the benefits of advancements in artificial intelligence — a direct rebuttal to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“As someone who practiced health care for 28 years, I’m never willing to accept bad results. I think we just need to do our best,” Rep. G.T. Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, told reporters Monday.
He was responding to Altman’s comments to Decoded by Blue Light News that people “should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency.”
Pressed further on whether he agreed with Altman’s premise, Thompson replied, “No, I think we have to work harder to prevent any bad things from happening.”
Altman’s comments come in the wake of increased panic over the risks of catastrophic destruction from AI, with many industry leaders and experts arguing that guardrails are needed on the technology to prevent it from spinning out of human control.
Pressure is building on Congress to regulate the rapidly-advancing technology, but lawmakers are divided over whether the AI industry needs federal regulation or if it’s capable of governing itself.
The executives of major AI labs and tech companies gathered at the White House last week to discuss solutions with President Donald Trump, who believes overregulating AI will have national security repercussions. The group ended up signing a “morally binding” AI accord that critics say won’t do enough to prevent a worst-case scenario.
Thompson noted Monday he believes that AI will bring “tremendous solutions,” specifically in regards to finding cures for health issues like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. But he also said AI has to be led with “principle” — comparing it to how he addressed digital assets in a bill to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, which he worked on as chair of the Agriculture Committee.
“The first principle is ‘do no harm.’ So we need to protect consumers, and that means, I think, building some guardrails — some guidelines — to do that,” Thompson said. He added that the second principle is to “foster innovation.”
“I think AI has a lot to do with that,” he added. “I don’t think AI works without RI: Real Intelligence.”
LE SUEUR, Minnesota — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday there is no “consensus” yet on advancing a bill establishing permanent daylight saving time even as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Republicans to pass it.
Thune addressed the matter in a Monday interview after Trump used his Truth Social account multiple times over the weekend to rail against the legislation, known as the Sunshine Protection Act — going so far as to post the personal cell phone number of one of its GOP opponents, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
“The president feels strongly on it like he does a lot of issues,” he said. “It’s something we’re having conversations about but there’s no clear path forward or consensus on it yet.”
While Trump singled out Cotton for scrutiny, Thune made clear the opposition to the permanent daylight saving time proposal — which would lead to very late winter sunrises in some parts of the country — ran deeper than one senator.
Cotton has publicly voiced opposition to the proposal for year, citing, among other things, the fact that children in his state would be going to school in the dark for part of the year.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) voiced similar objections Monday to reporters in the Capitol, saying he was mindful of “safety concerns in the more northern and rural states where children get on the school bus in very early hours.”
Thune, who spoke during a campaign swing in Minnesota with GOP Senate nominee Michele Tafoya, has himself opposed previous daylight saving bills. He said Monday that “a lot of it depends on where you are in the country” and that “your geography probably has as much to do with your position on that as anything.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who has aligned himself closely with Trump, is among the lawmakers who have been pushing to get the bill through the Senate. He recently told POLITICO, “I’m going to make sure it gets passed this year.”
Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.
Democrats have pulled back some of their ads in North Carolina’s Senate race, days after the top Senate Republican super PAC paused its future spending in the state.
WinSenate, a group affiliated with the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, has removed roughly $1.1 million in North Carolina ad buys this week, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact. The group still has roughly $18.8 million in future reservations through Election Day.
“Senate Majority PAC is committed to seeing this race through to victory, and will continue to make spending decisions based on how to best build a strong Senate majority,” Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French said in a statement.
The move, combined with the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund’s decision to pause future spending, are a signal that both parties are shifting resources amid an ever-expanding Senate map. Democrats are increasingly confident in their North Carolina Senate nominee, Roy Cooper, as he continues to hold a sizable lead in public polling over Republican Michael Whatley — but some privately say states like Michigan and New Hampshire need more resources.
Meanwhile, multiple Republican groups, not just SLF, have retreated from the state in recent weeks, effectively deciding that it’s no longer worth the money to boost Whatley’s campaign.
The Koch-aligned Americans for Prosperity Action left North Carolina off its $22 million list of future spending across key Senate contests, and Old North Action removed $6.5 million in ad reservations last month.
The Cooper campaign, however, is still treating the race as competitive, pointing to North Carolina’s closely divided electorate and the fact that President Donald Trump won the state in each of the past three presidential elections.
“North Carolina is a truly 50/50 state and Democrats haven’t won a US Senate race in 18 years. We can’t take anything for granted or our eye off the ball,” said Morgan Jackson, a senior adviser to the Cooper campaign. “DC is broken and we’re going to continue to run this race like we’re ten points down to ensure North Carolinians get the change they desperately need.”
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