Congress
Capitol agenda: Johnson’s budget dare, RFK Jr. confirmation vote
Speaker Mike Johnson is daring conservatives to sink his budget resolution, setting up a make-or-break moment in the House Budget Committee later today.
The speaker emerged from hours of talks Wednesday with two hard-liner holdouts — Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman, both House Freedom Caucus members who also serve on the Budget Committee — saying he would not change his budget blueprint to meet their demands for deeper spending cuts and other adjustments.
Neither conservative would commit to voting for the framework in its current form, saying that they still want guarantees that spending cuts will total closer to $2 trillion than the $1.5 trillion floor Johnson proposed.
The good news for Johnson: Roy and Norman haven’t ruled out supporting the plan. And if all Budget Committee members are present and voting, GOP leaders can afford to lose two Republicans in a party-line vote — but not three.
White House officials have encouraged members to let the process move forward but aren’t cracking the whip — as key members of the administration remain divided over whether the one- or two-bill approach is best. Norman told reporters Wednesday that Trump administration officials had called him to check in, and the White House was also in constant contact with House GOP leaders over both the sweeping policy package and souring bipartisan government funding talks.
Hard-liners are entangling those two major legislative priorities. Roy hinted that conservatives want assurances on the funding talks in order to support the budget resolution today. Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said he has not personally heard any requests along those lines, but he made clear he was not thrilled with the suggestion.
“If I were them, I would stop worrying about a few billion dollars and start worrying about the trillions of dollars of tax increases they’re talking about,” Cole said of the hard-liners. “They’ve got to grow up and decide they’re going to be members of Congress instead of TV stars on cable.”
The back-and-forth is setting up a dramatic day inside 210 Cannon, where it’s likely to remain unclear well into the day whether Budget Chair Jodey Arrington can close the deal and send a budget resolution to the floor.
Even if the panel delivers, there are plenty of potholes still to dodge: Norman and Roy aren’t the only conservatives raising doubts, and New York Republicans are getting anxious that the current tax parameters may not provide enough wiggle room to expand the SALT deduction. And you can expect House tax writers to keep pushing for a larger deficit allowance than the $4.5 trillion outlined in the current plan.
Meanwhile, senators moved forward with their own budget blueprint Wednesday, which they continue to frame as a back-up plan to the House proposal. It could come to the floor as soon as next week. Get your vote-a-rama snacks ready, folks.
What else we’re watching:
- Nominations: The Senate will vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy as HHS secretary this morning at 9 a.m. Keep an eye on Sen. Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, to see if he confirms Kennedy — he opposed Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence Wednesday and Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary last month.
- CR talks: Cole said on Wednesday that bipartisan discussions on appropriations bills are continuing and he has not been told to stop negotiating with Democrats. But privately, things may be moving towards a temporary funding bill, according to one person granted anonymity to speak on the matter. Cole said he requested a meeting with the speaker to talk about the next steps.
— Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.
Senate Budget Committee Republicans will meet Tuesday morning to talk about advancing a fiscal blueprint for a new party-line spending bill.
Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) declined to say , in an interview Monday if he plans to introduce a resolution this week, noting that he was “working with leadership” and that the “first priority” is to pass a stopgap spending bill. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a panel member, said he didn’t expect the Senate to take up a budget resolution this week because “I don’t think my leadership wants to do it.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t ruled out taking up a budget resolution but has been frank about the challenges it faces among GOP senators.
The Senate’s stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown on Oct. 1 has cleared the first procedural hurdle, putting it on track for passage before lawmakers leave for the August recess.
Senators voted 89-4 to advance the measure, which would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions.
In order for a passage vote to happen ahead of the summer break, Senate leaders will need to strike a bipartisan time agreement to fast-track the measure to a final vote.
“It is a strong bipartisan piece of legislation, and I hope it will receive overwhelming support from both parties in the Senate,” Majority Leader John Thune said in a Monday floor speech.
Senate passage would up a potential battle with the House, because the stopgap measure the House passed two weeks ago has key differences from the Senate version. Identical versions must be passed to actually avert a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.
The Senate measure includes language to bar the Trump administration from putting into action a plan to make political appointees in charge of approving grants, a prohibition that would last for the length of the stopgap. It also has language sought by Democrats to ensure Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement don’t get any new funding under the patch.
“The bill allows us to continue negotiating a budget that won’t leave working families behind,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment about if President Donald Trump supports the Senate measure. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), an appropriator and administration ally, said Monday he had spoken to Trump earlier in the day and believed the president is “comfortable” with the Senate bill.
Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought criminal charges against President Donald Trump, has been invited to testify Sept. 22 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to an invitation from Chair Chuck Grassley reviewed by Blue Light News.
Smith previously testified before the House Judiciary Committee in January, but Grassley (R-Iowa) and his team have been probing Smith and his investigations for months.
Grassley recently revealed that Smith obtained text messages that 44 members of Congress sent to White House officials during the waning months of Trump’s first term leading up to and around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Grassley’s texts were among those accessed by Smith’s team, along with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
“In the process of a deeply flawed, weaponized investigation, Jack Smith subpoenaed phone toll records from a dozen senators, scooped up text messages from over 40 members of Congress, and subpoenaed the private communications and financial records of hundreds of other Republican entities and individuals,” Grassley said in a statement.
“He needs to answer directly to Congress for his actions,” Grassley added. “Smith has requested to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and our committee looks forward to hearing from him as part of Congress’ investigation into Arctic Frost and his time as Special Counsel. Smith must be honest and forthcoming in his answers, because the American people deserve nothing less than full transparency and accountability.”
Lawyers for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the January hearing, Republicans focused on technicalities of how Smith investigated the probe into Trump’s election interference, such as whether he properly signed his oath of office and whether he was sufficiently versed on the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause that protects members of Congress from criminal investigation for their lawmaking actions.
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