Congress
Capitol agenda: Crucial megabill changes could come Friday
Senate Finance Republicans could release their all-important megabill text as soon as Friday, outlining changes to Medicaid cuts and President Donald Trump’s tax incentives.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune met with the president at the White House on Thursday and told Blue Light News afterwards to expect Trump’s campaign promises, like tax relief for tips and overtime work, to be intact in the bill text.
“The president wants his priorities,” Thune said in a brief Thursday evening interview. His comments come after Senate Republicans had been contemplating rolling some of Trump’s tax policies back to make room for larger business tax cuts.
But there are strategic reasons for Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to postpone release of his committee’s text until next week. Generally, lawmakers don’t like tax legislation to sit out in the daylight for lobbyists to pick apart.
The bill text could also drive key policy disagreements. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said if the text doesn’t ease up enough on the proposed Medicaid cuts, he would be willing to force a vote on the Senate floor that could include a rollback of limits on taxes that fund state obligations for the program.
“I’d be happy to amend the bill on the floor. Quote me on that,” Hawley told reporters on Thursday. “I don’t think that’s probably what leadership wants.”
There could also be major heartburn for blue-state House Republicans if the bill text waters down their $40,000 state-and-local-tax deduction cap.
In a notable moment during Thursday’s House vote on the rescissions package, one of the hardcore SALTers, Rep. Nick LaLota, suddenly switched his vote from “no” to “yes” after a huddle with House Speaker Mike Johnson on the floor.
The New Yorker declined to confirm whether SALT had to do with his flip, but said: “I expect constituents will be quite pleased when they get $40,000 worth of SALT.”
Other must-reads on megabill dynamics this morning:
— Where GOP leaders are smoothing things over: Republican senators and the White House now view Senate hard-liners Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Rick Scott (Fla.) as on track to support the megabill they’ve railed against for not slashing enough spending.
Johnson softened his tone after convincing Trump in a one-on-one phone call to let him work with administration officials on his deficit-reduction plan. Johnson subsequently met with Vice President JD Vance and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.
— Where GOP tensions are rising: Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul (Ky.) and Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (S.C.) released dueling proposals for Homeland’s portion of the megabill late Thursday, after GOP leaders deemed the conservative numbers Paul put forward as unworkable.
— What else the GOP is tweaking: Senate Judiciary’s take on the megabill, also released late Thursday, includes new immigration fees and a carrot for Hawley (reauthorization of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act). But it leaves out House-passed language to limit the ability of federal courts to enforce contempt orders and a deregulatory provision known as the REINS Act. Republicans could still try to get a version of REINS past the parliamentarian.
What else we’re watching:
— More reaction to the Israeli strike: Hill Republicans were quick to post messages of support after Israel launched what it described as a “preemptive” military strike aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities. Speaker Johnson posted an Israeli flag on X Thursday night; Thune declared the Senate’s commitment to helping Israel. Israel’s move raises the specter of a broader conflict between the Middle Eastern adversaries that threatens to drag in the U.S.
— What happens next on Padilla: Speaker Johnson suggested the Senate should censure Sen. Alex Padilla after the California Democrat interrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Los Angeles press conference Friday and was forcibly removed and handcuffed by Secret Service agents. Democrats, meanwhile, are decrying “totalitarianism”; several are demanding Noem to testify before Congress or even to resign.
Jordain Carney, Eric Bazail-Eimil, Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.
BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania — Speaker Mike Johnson defended President Donald Trump’s use of taxpayer funded political-themed ads ahead of the election, but he said it was “good” that MAGA Inc. would pay for them going forward.
Johnson said Tuesday that he’s only seen one of the Trump ads and that it “looked like a public service announcement.”
“It was talking about America’s greatness and the economy coming back, and it wasn’t a plea to vote for anybody. It was just — it was pro Americana,” Johnson told Blue Light News during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania.
But he added: “If the Super PAC’s funding them, that’s good.”
Trump said Monday that he or his aligned super PAC would pay for the series of taxpayer-funded ads featuring him in the final few weeks of the midterms. His decision came after bipartisan backlash, including from some GOP candidates like Brinker Harding in Nebraska’s 2nd District publicly broke with the president and said they shouldn’t be paid for with taxpayer money.
Still, asked if Trump should refund taxpayers the money already spent on the ads, Johnson demurred. He said previous Democratic administrations have run PSAs as well, though Democrats argue these ads violate federal laws against using taxpayer money for “publicity or propaganda purposes.”
“Look, they’re making their decisions on funding campaigns and the content of all of it,” Johnson said of the president’s team.
“I’m going to tell you the president is deeply vested,” Johnson added, noting Trump was out on the campaign trail for Republicans.
Johnson spoke alongside Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) during a law enforcement event in the perennial bellwether of Pennsylvania’s 7th District. He called Mackenzie’s race one of the “top three in the country” and warned it would be “enormously expensive.”
He later argued that Democrats, if they win the House majority, would roll back GOP work on the economy and “empower our enemies around the world at the worst possible time.”
“That would roil the markets … if Democrats turned Congress into lawfare on steroids,” Johnson said.
Pennsylvania is the first of seven states that Johnson plans to visit this week as he continues his midterm campaign blitz.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to stay on the court through next year, brushing aside speculation that he could retire early and let President Donald Trump fill his seat after the election but before a new Congress is sworn in next year.
“I intend to stick around through this term,” Alito, 76, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “I made that decision many months ago.”
The Supreme Court began its new term on Monday, which will last through next June.
Alito, the second-oldest justice on the bench, was in the news last week after telling CBS News that he considered retiring this year and will do so again in 2027.
His comments come as the fight over control of the Senate is in a dead heat. Democrats would have to flip at least four seats, but recent polls show several races, including in states Trump carried easily two years ago, remain competitive.
Several Senate Democratic candidates are already running on the prospect of filling a seat on the Supreme Court or, at least, denying Trump’s ability to do so. Senate Republicans successfully blocked a Democratic nominee in 2016, allowing Trump to fill the seat after he came into the White House.
“Our race to decide Ohio’s next Senator could not only determine control of the U.S. Senate, but also who fills a lifetime seat on the highest court in the land,” Sherrod Brown, the Democratic nominee in Ohio, wrote in a blog post Monday. “Ohio’s next senator could be our first line of defense against another partisan Supreme Court Justice — or rubber stamp a Trump nominee.”
John Thune has money on his mind in the final stretch before the midterms.
The Senate majority leader, in an exclusive conversation Monday with Blue Light News on the campaign trail, said funding for Republicans has dominated his recent conversations with President Donald Trump and his staff as the party tries to divvy up its spending to hold onto seats in closer-than-expected races while picking up spots in other states.
“I think the president is sincerely interested in trying to do whatever he can to help the team,” Thune said. “You know, some of the states have gotten very expensive.”
Thune’s focus highlights the emerging story defining the 2026 midterms: Is there enough Republican money, and can it be spent fast enough to counter surging Democratic campaigns and a lackluster national environment for the GOP?
Thune was at a news conference Monday with Senate GOP candidate Michele Tafoya in Minnesota — a state where the party increasingly sees a pickup opportunity after Democrats nominated progressive Peggy Flanagan.
Minnesota is one possible state where Trump could deploy his $400 million war chest, Thune said. But he was vague when asked about Republicans’ potential commitment to the race. He named Michigan and New Hampshire as other GOP pickup opportunities.
Republicans are simultaneously having to play defense in a growing list of red states, like Iowa, Kansas and Alaska. And the Thune-aligned Senate Leadership Fund recently pulled back spending in North Carolina — essentially surrendering a GOP-held seat to Democrats — while increasing its spending in Kansas.
Thune referred to the super PAC’s North Carolina decision as a “pause” in financial support.
And then there’s Texas, where Republicans are deploying hundreds of millions of dollars as they struggle to drag GOP nominee Ken Paxton over the finish line. Thune said “dedicated donors” focused on Texas have prevented the need to siphon funding away from other states.
Thune declined Monday to put odds on the GOP’s chances of keeping Senate control, but repeated, “I think we can keep the majority.”
The results may carry personal stakes for him, as he is expected to run for leader again. And while no other senator has raised their hand against him, some conservatives have questioned whether Trump would publicly turn on Thune if Republicans lose.
“I can’t control that,” Thune said, adding that the Republican conference would ultimately make the decision. “What the president does or doesn’t do … you just move forward and let the chips fall where they may.”
What else we’re watching:
— THUNE CHECKS TRUMP’S DAYLIGHT SAVING ZEAL — Thune also said Monday there is no “consensus” yet on Congress establishing permanent daylight saving time — even as Trump ramps up pressure to pass it. “The president feels strongly on it like he does a lot of issues,” Thune said. “It’s something we’re having conversations about, but there’s no clear path forward or consensus on it yet.” Thune also made clear that while Trump singled out Sen. Tom Cotton for scrutiny, opposition to the bill — which would lead to late winter sunrises in some parts of the country — runs deeper than one senator.
— BUCKS FOR BABIES PLAN DRAWS MURRAY IRE — Top Democratic appropriator Patty Murray is blasting a Trump administration plan to reward communities with high birth and marriage rates with a bigger share of federal transit money. “Tying funding for transit projects to marriage rates and how many babies a woman has is the sort of bizarre and dystopian idea you’d expect in a TV show, not actual policy put forth by the U.S. government — yet here we are,” Murray said in a statement. The Federal Transit Administration wants to revamp a multibillion-dollar program that helps state and local authorities fund infrastructure projects such as rail improvements and new bus lanes. The agency opened public feedback on the plan this month.
Jordain Carney and Sam Ogozalek contributed to this report.
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