Congress
Capitol agenda: Megabill hardball isn’t over yet
GOP fiscal hawks let their party’s tax and spending package advance toward a floor vote. But they’re threatening to tank President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” if they don’t see even more spending cuts and conservative policy changes.
Catch up: Republican hard-liners who sank the Budget Committee’s initial vote on the vehicle for Trump’s domestic agenda last Friday allowed the measure to proceed late Sunday after securing promises from GOP leaders that changes would be made before the legislation hits the House floor. According to Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), those changes could include speeding up enforcement of Medicaid work requirements, nixing green-energy tax perks enacted during the Biden administration and revoking Medicaid benefits from undocumented immigrants.
Speaker Mike Johnson huddled privately with the holdouts — Norman and Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Andrew Clyde of Georgia — just before the Budget panel reconvened Sunday night. Emerging from the confab, he described agreed-upon changes to reporters as “minor modifications.” The four conservatives went on to vote “present” rather than “no,” allowing the package to move forward. But the eleventh-hour tweaks are likely to have massive implications for already-wary moderates (more on that below).
The hard-liner headache isn’t going away. Roy and Norman also are on Rules, which represents the last hurdle the bill needs to clear to get a floor vote (a notice that went out after midnight says the panel will meet on the measure at 1 a.m. Wednesday). Norman on Sunday night said GOP leaders put their latest concessions in writing. Yet negotiations are ongoing — Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) predicted Sunday that talks “will continue on into the week and I suspect right up until we put this big, beautiful bill on the floor of the House” — and conservatives are far from fully satisfied.
“The bill does not yet meet the moment,” Roy said in a post on X, asking for a complete repeal of Biden-era clean-energy subsidies and deeper federal spending cuts to Medicaid. The House Freedom Caucus released a similar statement drawing its red lines.
Those are going to be tough concessions to make without backlash from the moderate Republicans in the conference, some of whom are pushing to protect more of the clean-energy tax provisions currently benefiting their districts and states.
Norman, Roy, Brecheen and Clyde were enraged when GOP leaders told them the conference did not have the votes for a full repeal of the Democrats’ 2022 climate law. One option GOP leaders and White House officials are discussing with the hard-liners is moving up the sunset date for certain green credits beyond what is now included in the megabill.
The Medicaid issue is even trickier. Hard-liners appear to be close to notching one big win with moving up the work requirements from 2029 to 2027. Yet as hard-liners make their push for more Medicaid changes, moderates are warning leaders to apply a lighter touch. Johnson is meeting with the Main Street Caucus Monday night, including with a group of moderates who requested to meet with the speaker over Medicaid, food aid and pension concerns in the bill.
Trump has been reluctant to make any moves that could be seen as cutting Medicaid benefits. But as talks lingered through the weekend, one thing became clear: “In the end, the president is gonna have to weigh in on where he stands” on the matter, according to one person involved in negotiations.
Speaking of the president: Keep an eye out for any White House meetings this week. Johnson’s leadership circle has debated at what point to ask the White House to invite the various factions of the conference to the Oval Office and get Trump involved.
What else we’re watching:
— Crypto vote: For the second time in less than two weeks, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is preparing to advance landmark cryptocurrency legislation — starting with a procedural vote this evening. Senators struck a tentative deal last week and circulated revised text over the weekend. The latest legislative language largely mirrors the previous draft, with some small tweaks that would affect data sharing and the treatment of foreign crypto firms.
— Trump admin on Blue Light News: A slew of top Trump administration officials will hit Capitol Hill this week to defend their agencies’ budget proposals, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of State Marco Rubio and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The Trump administration’s proposed deep budget cuts across agencies have drawn scrutiny even from some Republican lawmakers, and this week’s hearings will be the latest test of how much slashing they can stomach.
Jasper Goodman, Meredith Lee Hill and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
Senate Republicans confirmed dozens of President Donald Trump’s nominees Friday, just before they leave for a five-week congressional recess.
Senators voted 51-47 to approve officials at the Departments of Defense, Energy, State and other agencies.
They included David Cummins to head the Transportation Security Administration, Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hal Duncan to be OMB deputy director and Francis Brooke to be Treasury deputy secretary. Among the group were several ambassadors, including former Rep. David Brat to be ambassador to Australia.
Senate Republicans changed the chamber’s rules last year to be able to confirm lower-level nominees as a package instead of having to hold a vote on each.
After finishing the expedited procedure Friday, Senate Republicans estimate they will only have a small number of civilian nominees awaiting confirmation.
President Donald Trump said voters may seek to punish Republicans — but not him — in the November midterm elections, as GOP lawmakers sweat that affordability concerns and the war in Iran could mean Democrats flip the House and perhaps even the Senate.
“They’re angry at Republicans,” Trump said in an interview with Punchbowl News that aired Friday. “But they’re not angry at me. They’re not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans.”
The GOP faces the prospect of heavy losses this November, as gas and grocery prices remain stubbornly high due in part to the White House’s five-month-long war in Iran. The administration’s guidance on campaign trail messaging has been “tone deaf,” House Republicans fear.
Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating has tumbled since he returned to the Oval Office last year, and even his biggest supporters have grown frustrated over his Middle East war.
And with a messy, jam-packed slate of primaries now all but in the rearview mirror, Democrats are determined to go on offense. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has 58 seats on its midterm target map that stretches into redder territory — while still facing an uphill climb to take the Senate.
Trump has a massive war chest at his disposal. His MAGA Inc. super PAC reached $400 million in June. The president told Punchbowl he plans to use it to “help Republicans,” but he stressed that he faces no pressure in this campaign cycle.
“I said to somebody, ‘Wait a minute, you don’t understand, I won,’” Trump said, referencing his 2024 presidential election victory. “I’m not campaigning.”
The biggest issue for Republicans this year? That Trump himself is not on the ballot, he said.
“If I don’t run, will those people go out and vote? And that’s the one thing I can’t tell, I’m going to ask them to,” he said.
The Senate’s plan to get out of town is coming together.
Majority Leader John Thune teed up a final vote on the Russia sanctions legislation for this morning, as well as a confirmation vote for dozens of nominees and a procedural step on a stopgap funding bill.
But there’s still a number of questions that need to be answered if Thune wants to adjourn for recess by the end of the day:
— BLANCHE’S FATE: President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general needs to secure at least one more vote to be confirmed before the break.
It looks like it’s all up to Sen. Bill Cassidy after Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Friday morning she is opposed. Thune indicated Thursday night Blanche’s fate was uncertain and that leaders were “still working to get the final vote.”
— SAVE AMERICA ACT: Thune said to expect a vote related to the SAVE America Act as well as an initial vote on a budget blueprint for a third party-line spending bill — which includes elements of Trump’s election security legislation.
The decision to hold the budget vote comes after two Republican senators, granted anonymity to speak candidly, told Blue Light News Thursday they believed Sen. Mike Lee or another member of the GOP’s right flank would have otherwise forced a vote on the framework.
But as we’ve previously reported, Republicans don’t believe the budget resolution has the votes within the conference to be adopted — meaning the expected initial vote today will fail to clear a simple majority threshold.
And it’s not clear Lee or like-minded senators will be satisfied and allow for lawmakers to adjourn for recess without more action on the elections measure. The senator has made similar threats over the past year but has never followed through.
— TIME AGREEMENT: GOP leaders need to strike an agreement to finish other business, including passing the stopgap government funding bill and advancing a college sports bill.
At this point, any single senator could still object to expediting the chamber’s agenda, which would derail Thune’s goal of getting members out of town by the end of the day.
“We’ve been having these conversations with Democrats trying to figure out what’s the path,” Thune said.
“We’ll see how it goes,” he added.
What else we’re watching:
— GOP EXPECTS CRYPTO BILL DELAY: The Senate will leave for the chamber’s August recess without holding a vote on a landmark cryptocurrency bill, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Thune may still file cloture on the bill, but it likely won’t come to the floor until lawmakers return to Washington next month, two of the people said.
— COLLEGE SPORTS BILL STUMBLES: Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell’s legislation to impose new guardrails on college sports is looking increasingly unlikely to hit the floor this week. Eleven senators objected to expedited consideration of the Protect College Sports Act after Thune filed cloture earlier this week, two people familiar with discussions told Blue Light News.
— OGLES OUSTED: GOP House leaders lost an incumbent — and a perennial headache — with Rep. Andy Ogles’ primary defeat in Tennessee Thursday night. His loss to former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher represents the second Trump-endorsed candidate to lose a primary this week.
Jordain Carney, Mia McCarthy, Andrew Howard and Jacob Wendler contributed to this report.
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