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Capitol agenda: GOP leaders rush into Elon Musk damage control

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Hill GOP leaders are in full-on damage control as they scramble to save their megabill — and themselves — from the blast radius of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s breakup.

But Musk doesn’t seem interested in sparing any part of the GOP trifecta from his wrath on his way out of Washington. The president’s new enemy attacked both Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune Thursday over the cost of the party’s sweeping domestic policy package. Thune brushed it aside.

Johnson, however, is mounting a multi-front rebuttal as he aims to keep Musk from hurting the megabill’s prospects. He’s questioning the tech mogul’s motives for opposing the bill and challenging his claims about its impact on the deficit. Johnson already had to reassure hard-liners concerned about the bill’s spending in order to squeeze the bill through the House last month.

“I’m the same guy that’s always been a deficit hawk, and now I’m the speaker of the House, and I’m working on a multi-step plan to reverse the fiscal insanity that has haunted our country,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. “We have to get the big, beautiful bill done.”

Johnson’s leadership team quickly claimed Musk wouldn’t rattle their members. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise insisted it hadn’t moved any votes. And Whip Tom Emmer, in an exclusive interview with POLITICO, said he’s not tracking Musk’s onslaught on X.

“Sorry,” Emmer said, “he’s not on my phone.”

Some fiscal hard-liners — who share in Musk’s concerns about the bill but allowed it to pass the House — avoided immediately picking sides in the feud. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), bombarded with questions about Musk on Thursday, said only that he’s “right on the deficit.” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted on X: “But … I really like both of them.”

They may not have to choose. Signs of a détente emerged late Thursday, with Trump brushing off the clash in a phone call with Blue Light News and Musk seeming somewhat open to a reconciliation (just not the reconciliation bill). White House aides are working to broker peace.

Still, if the Trump-Musk divorce goes through, MAGA will likely side with the president. There were signs Thursday that Musk was alienating some of Trump’s biggest Hill boosters.

“Elon is getting too personal. It’s getting out of control,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) told Blue Light News. “Some of the most recent comments, I think: Elon, you’ve lost your mind.”

What else we’re watching: 

— Rescissions deadline: Congress must act by July 18 on Trump’s request to claw back $9.4 billion in funding or the White House will be required to spend the money, the Senate parliamentarian said. The House is expected to vote next week to approve the request, as submitted. But Senate Republicans are considering their options for making tweaks to the package.

— AI update for the megabill: Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Thursday his committee would attempt to rewrite the 10-year moratorium on enforcement of state and local artificial intelligence laws that the House tucked into their version of the megabill.

Rachael Bade, Dasha Burns and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

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Congress

Musk goes back on the offensive as megabill moves through Congress

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Elon Musk is escalating his assault on President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” as the Senate readies a final vote on it.

The world’s richest man, who until recently played an active role in the Trump administration, attacked the GOP’s sweeping domestic megabill over the weekend. On Monday, he threatened to wield his financial resources against Republicans who support it.

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk wrote on X. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

Musk’s opposition to the megabill, which could cripple the renewable energy industry while adding trillions to the national debt, led to a public break with the president shortly after his time as a federal government employee came to an end in late May.

The two appeared to patch things up several days later.

But Musk is again on the offensive. Also on Monday, he tagged Freedom Caucus members Texas Rep. Chip Roy and Maryland Rep. Andy Harris in another post assailing the megabill.

“How can you call yourself the Freedom Caucus if you vote for a DEBT SLAVERY bill with the biggest debt ceiling increase in history?” Musk wrote.

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Planned Parenthood funding at grave risk after Senate ruling

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Republicans are on the cusp of a breakthrough in their long effort to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood after a Senate ruling Monday.

Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough advised lawmakers that a provision that would cut off Medicaid funding for one year to the women’s health organization and abortion provider can remain in the GOP’s domestic policy megabill without threatening its ability to be passed along party lines, according to Senate Democrats.

The megabill is expected to clear the Senate Monday or Tuesday using a budgetary tool to bypass a 60-vote filibuster. Bills advanced with that tool must adhere to strict budget rules, and the parliamentarian is the de facto arbiter of those rules. Senate Democrats had challenged whether the provision was allowed.

“Republicans will stop at nothing in their crusade to take control of women’s bodies,” said Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon in a statement.

Conservative lawmakers have sought to strip Planned Parenthood’s eligibility for federal funds for decades. It has long been subject to the Hyde amendment, which bans federal funding directly on abortions, but the organization bills Medicaid for nonabortion services and receives other federal funding through other programs and grants.

Republicans sought to target the group in their party-line 2017 push to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but the overall effort collapsed.

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Anxious House Republicans scramble to forestall Senate’s Medicaid cuts

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Dozens of House Republicans are scrambling behind the scenes to head off the deep Medicaid cuts in the Senate version of the party-line megabill that could pass as soon as tonight.

Group texts are blowing up and frantic phone calls are being exchanged among GOP lawmakers alarmed about the Senate Medicaid provisions, according to six House Republicans granted anonymity to describe the conversations. Even some conservatives in states that will be hit hard by the Senate’s crackdown on state-directed payments and medical provider taxes don’t want to vote on the Senate’s Medicaid text.

That’s to say nothing of an effort pushed by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) to scale back federal payments under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion — a well-established red line for many House members.

Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to hold a call with House Republicans Monday afternoon, according to two other people granted anonymity to discuss yet-to-be-announced plans. Senate and House leadership staffers huddled Monday to discuss the outstanding concerns.

Senior House Republicans are warning they still might need to hammer out differences between the two chambers if the Senate doesn’t strike a final compromise on the language and add it in a final amendment before sending the bill to the House. That would mean missing President Donald Trump’s arbitrary July 4 deadline for signing the megabill.

It’s still unclear whether the Senate will relent and allow a compromise on Medicaid or other policy issues in a final amendment. That chamber is dealing with its own politics, including the determination of many GOP senators to swell the size of the tax-cut package, prompting the need for sharper Medicaid cuts.

Thune has been noncommittal in closed-door meetings with GOP senators about whether there will be a final “wraparound” that would incorporate House Republicans’ concerns. Senate leaders are betting the House will accept whatever the Senate sends them.

“Right now, there isn’t a need for it,” said one GOP senator granted anonymity to discuss the situation.

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