Congress
Capitol agenda: GOP losing patience over Warsh fight
Republicans who want Kevin Warsh confirmed as the country’s next top economic official are growing more exasperated at a Trump administration probe standing in the way.
For months, outgoing GOP Sen. Thom Tillis has said he’d blockade President Donald Trump’s pick until the Justice Department drops an investigation into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Now a growing chorus of Republicans, eager to install Warsh as Powell’s term as chair comes to a conclusion next month, are joining the call for the administration to end the probe.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday he believed the administration should wrap up its investigation, and acknowledged that Warsh is basically stuck until then.
“I think at some point they’re going to have to deal with the committee, and they’re going to have to deal with Tillis,” Thune said of the administration.
Tillis holds a deciding vote on the Senate Banking panel, which scheduled a hearing on Warsh’s confirmation Tuesday. His GOP colleagues on the committee haven’t committed to blocking Warsh with him, but some are taking his side in calling for an end to the investigation into whether Powell lied to Congress during testimony last year about cost overruns at the Fed’s Washington headquarters.
Sen. Mike Rounds, who has previously declined to weigh in on the probe, told reporters Wednesday he wants to see it dropped so that Warsh can be confirmed.
“The president wants a different Fed chair. And we want to help him get there,” Rounds said. “But that requires right now that they resolve the issue surrounding this prosecution that is still taking place.”
Another Banking Republican granted anonymity to speak candidly predicted the administration and Tillis would ultimately find an off-ramp but told Jordain Carney the DOJ “should drop the investigation.”
And over in the House — which holds no sway over nominations — Financial Services Chair French Hill said Wednesday “it’s time for the administration to draw that investigation to a conclusion,” as “we want to make sure that we’ve got a new confirmed head of the Fed that we can work with in conducting oversight.”
Trump, meanwhile, is digging in and ratcheting up his conflict with Powell. He threatened Wednesday to fire Powell if he stays on as chair once his term ends — a growing possibility amid the Warsh stalemate. That follows a visit that officials from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office made to the Fed’s headquarters this week.
Asked about the prospect of getting Tillis’ vote to help secure his Fed nominee, Trump said on Fox Business that the North Carolinian is “no longer a senator,” given that Tillis is retiring at the end of his term.
But Tillis is standing his ground, Jordain and Jasper Goodman report, and he’s leaving the door open to exercising his power even more.
Tillis also sits on Senate Judiciary, where he will have a vote in the event the panel considers a successor to outgoing Attorney General Pam Bondi. He’s already warned he will block any attorney general nominee who has dismissed the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And he’s not completely ruling out making the Fed probe a litmus test for AG nominees if it continues.
“If we keep letting this go on, I have to consider other options for really amplifying my concern,” Tillis said of his Fed fight.
What else we’re watching:
— Johnson tries again on FISA: Speaker Mike Johnson is expecting to put a procedural vote on the House floor Thursday to renew key government spy powers after his attempt Wednesday failed. GOP leaders canceled a planned vote Wednesday amid disagreements over whether to allow members to amend the legislation reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
— RFK Jr. hearing palooza kicks off: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Thursday starts a stretch of seven congressional hearings in less than a week. The series serves as the first high-profile public forum to test the White House’s theory that Kennedy will help Republicans in the midterms.
— Selig likely to talk prediction markets: House Agriculture lawmakers Thursday are all but certain to press CFTC Chair Michael Selig on the surge in popularity — and controversy — surrounding prediction markets. Selig has emerged as the markets’ most prominent backer in Washington, but he’s also planning to make one thing clear to the lawmakers up front: He’s still the markets’ top cop.
Jordain Carney, Jasper Goodman, Mia McCarthy, Declan Harty, Carmen Paun, Simon Levien, Robert King and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
Speaker Mike Johnson will try again Thursday to push the House to extend an imperiled spy powers law after GOP resistance forced him to punt a vote Wednesday.
Johnson is scheduling a procedural vote for 3:15 p.m. and final passage around 5 p.m. He told POLITICO late Wednesday that he believed negotiators needed “a few more hours” to wrap up discussions on a potential compromise with conservatives concerned about U.S. citizens being caught up in government surveillance.
Talks between White House officials and House GOP hard-liners are ongoing, and there’s no deal yet, according to five people granted anonymity to discuss negotiations. Those people said an agreement by Friday seems more likely at this point and it’s possible Johnson has to delay the vote again ahead of the Monday expiration.
Johnson is racing to close out the internal GOP battle as President Donald Trump demands an 18-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The speaker needs to send the FISA extension to the Senate before the Monday deadline, leaving barely any time for the Senate to act and threatening a rare weekend session.
The House ultraconservatives opposed to the clean spy powers extension are trying to hash out an amendment involving warrant requirements, drawing on language from a measure by Louisiana Republican Rep. Clay Higgins.
White House officials, mindful of the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown, are also trying to finalize an agreement so they can tackle a party-line immigration enforcement bill and end the funding lapse.
Progressive political newcomer Graham Platner outraised both Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Sen. Susan Collins in the first fundraising quarter in Maine’s key Senate race.
But Collins, seeking her sixth term, maintains a formidable cash advantage over both of her Democratic opponents that could give her a head start against whichever Democrat emerges from the June primary.
Platner raised $4.1 million in the first quarter, down from $4.6 million he had raised the prior quarter, while Mills brought in $2.6 million, down from $2.7 million in the final quarter of 2025, which had also included her campaign launch.
Collins brought in just over $3 million and had just over $10 million in the bank. She is also expected to be buoyed by a wave of outside money, with a super PAC supporting her, Pine Tree Results, reporting another $11.5 million cash on hand. Platner had $2.7 million in the bank, while Mills had just over $1 million.
Maine is one of national Democrats’ top targets as they seek to take back the Senate, with Collins the only Republican senator representing a seat won by Kamala Harris in 2024.
But it is one of the few battleground states where Democrats do not have a clear cash advantage. The comparatively lower fundraising totals for Platner and Mills compared to Democratic Senate candidates in states such as Ohio and North Carolina may reflect that some donors are still waiting on the sidelines to see which of the pair emerges to face Collins, while others are choosing sides.
Both Platner and Mills have faced challenges, albeit very different ones, in the primary. Mills, a two-term governor who entered the race with the backing of national Democrats, has trailed in recent public polling despite her near-universal name recognition. Platner, an oysterman and military veteran, quickly caught national attention and has drawn large crowds in the state. But he has been beset with a string of controversies involving old Reddit posts that began in mid-October, near the beginning of the previous fundraising quarter.
Former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers has opened up a small cash advantage over his Democratic rivals in Michigan’s open Senate race as they battle through a competitive primary. But he hasn’t taken full advantage of the hard-fought contest on the other side to build a big financial edge.
Rogers raised $2.2 million over the first three months of the year and began April with $4.2 million in cash on hand, according to his federal campaign finance filing.
It’s a small cushion, however, especially considering that he has no serious primary competition, with two of his three Democratic potential opponents outraising him for the quarter.
State Sen. Mallory McMorrow raked in $3 million and had nearly $3.7 million in cash on hand. Abdul El-Sayed raised just under $2.3 million and had $2.5 million in the bank. And Rep. Haley Stevens brought in $2 million and had nearly $3.4 million in her coffers.
Still, Rogers is in a better financial position now than at this point in his last Senate run, when he had less than $1.4 million in cash on hand compared to now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s $8.6 million. Slotkin beat Rogers in that race by just 19,000 votes as Trump won the state by an 80,000-vote margin.
Rogers is in line for some significant outside aid. The Senate Leadership Fund, a top Republican super PAC, said earlier this month that it would pour $45 million into flipping the seat that will be critical to determining control of the chamber.
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