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Capitol agenda: More floor meltdowns threaten funding bills

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House GOP leaders are losing control of the floor to non-stop intraparty revolts ahead of the rapidly approaching deadline to avoid another shutdown.

Speaker Mike Johnson needs his ranks united in order to keep federal operations afloat after Jan. 30. But the stark reality is settling in that Republicans are stuck with an essentially unworkable margin that could derail not only their government funding plans but their entire legislative agenda.

— Hard math warning signs: “We’re totally in control of the House,” Johnson insisted Tuesday. Yet six Republican defectors sunk a bill earlier that afternoon designed to incentivize employers to offer more training and education programs — at the expense of having to offer some overtime pay, Lawrence Ukenye reports.

The measure’s collapse led leadership to scrap scheduled votes on two other labor-related bills Tuesday evening. Leaders are now expected to cancel consideration of yet another measure slated for Thursday — related to franchise stores’ liability for employee working conditions — that Republicans privately say will also fail.

It comes as Republicans have been dealing with a series of absences tightening their already threadbare majority. Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) has returned after recovering from a recent car crash, but Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) will not be in Washington for at least the rest of the week, adding up to a harrowing single-vote margin for the speaker. They’re also running a deficit following the sudden death last week of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.).

None of this bodes well for Wednesday’s floor vote to advance the State-Foreign Operations and Financial Services funding package, as rule votes are typically party-line affairs.

— The Homeland fight: Republican leaders are on a separate uphill climb to reach a deal with Democrats on the fiscal 2026 spending bill for DHS, which stalled after an ICE agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis last week.

Top Democrats are feverishly working to put new guardrails on immigration enforcement agencies and curb President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. They’re facing the reality that the only way to do so is by working through the process to fund DHS.

They’re hoping that Republicans who also have hesitations about the DHS bill will team up with them on provisions to enforce new rules for ICE agents, like requiring them to use body cameras and banning masks.

It’s unclear, however, what concessions GOP leaders are willing to make, as there are unsavory results for each party if lawmakers can’t strike a deal. Nobody wants an extended stopgap funding measure that maintains the DHS status quo without new funding levels and policy changes.

“We’re trying to work with our colleagues. I know they’re trying to get a bill. But I’m very sensitive to the political challenges they have on this particular bill,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters this week.

What else we’re watching:   

— GOP mulls war powers off-ramp: Senate Republicans are discussing whether to use a procedural maneuver to effectively quash the Venezuela war powers resolution — challenging the resolution’s “privilege.” Under that scenario, Republicans would call up a vote on a point of order that the resolution shouldn’t enjoy a privileged status because troops are not currently engaged in hostilities. If it is approved it would effectively kick the underlying war powers resolution off the floor agenda.

— Jan. 6 committee hearing: House Judiciary’s select subcommittee on Jan. 6 will have its first hearing at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The panel is expected to scrutinize the investigations into the pipe bombs left near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters the day before the Capitol attack in 2021.

Witnesses will include Chris Piehota, a former FBI special agent; John Nantz, a former FBI special agent; and Thomas Speciale, a former senior adviser for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Meredith Lee Hill, Jennifer Scholtes, Nicholas Wu, Katherine Tully-McManus, Jordain Carney and Lawrence Ukenye contributed to this report.

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Congress

Former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler called to testify in House Oversight’s Epstein investigation

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The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is requesting that Kathryn Ruemmler, the former White House counsel under President Barack Obama and the exiting top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, speak with investigators about her relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Ruemmler will soon resign from Goldman Sachs amid the mounting scrutiny over her close relationship with Epstein. Material released by the Justice Department revealed that Epstein called her when he was arrested for sex crimes.

“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” said Oversight Chair James Comer in a letter to Ruemmler obtained by Blue Light News.

He requested that she appear for a transcribed interview on the morning of April 21, but that date could be subject to change.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Ruemmler, through a spokesperson, has said she regrets knowing Epstein. She has not been charged with any misconduct.

The letter was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Ruemmler is one of a number of powerful public figures in the U.S. who has faced consequences for their relationships with Epstein.

Brad Karp, the former chair of the legal giant Paul Weiss, left his post atop the firm amid the fallout over his communications with Epstein.

Earlier Tuesday, Comer announced Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to speak with his panel after correspondence released by DOJ showed that Lutnick maintained ties to Epstein following the disgraced financier’s 2008 sex crime conviction.

Lutnick has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

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Trump takes aim at banks over crypto bill talks

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused the banking industry of holding up landmark cryptocurrency legislation, writing on social media that Wall Street firms “need to make a good deal with the Crypto Industry” to unstick a pending digital asset bill in the Senate.

His post comes as White House officials are working to resolve a lobbying spat between the banking and crypto sectors over whether digital asset exchanges should be able to offer rewards programs that pay yield to users who hold dollar-pegged digital tokens known as stablecoins. The dispute has stalled pending crypto market structure legislation in the Senate.

“The Banks are hitting record profits, and we are not going to allow them to undermine our powerful Crypto Agenda that will end up going to China, and other Countries if we don’t get The Clarity Act taken care of,” he said, referring to the market structure bill, which would establish a new regulatory framework favorable to crypto companies.

Trump’s post is a win for the crypto industry, which is fighting against a lobbying effort by the banking industry to bar any type of yield payments on stablecoins. He effectively sided with the crypto industry’s position, writing that “Americans should earn more money on their money” — a line that crypto executives have used to argue in favor of their rewards programs. Banks warn that allowing consumers to earn yield on stablecoins could spark deposit flight from traditional financial institutions and threaten lending.

Despite Trump’s new position, the stalled market structure bill likely still does not have the votes to advance in the Senate without a resolution to the stablecoin yield fight that banks are satisfied with.

The talks over the issue, which are being mediated by White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, have dragged on past an unofficial March 1 deadline by which administration officials hoped to resolve the dispute. The White House convened a series of meetings featuring representatives from the two industries, but an agreement has remained elusive.

“The U.S. needs to get Market Structure done, ASAP,” Trump wrote.

He also said a previously signed law dubbed the GENIUS Act, which created new rules for how stablecoins are regulated, “is being threatened and undermined by the Banks, and that is unacceptable — We are not going to allow it.”

The crypto industry “cannot be taken from the People of America when it is so close to becoming truly successful,” he wrote.

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House Ethics trial for Cherflius-McCormick postponed as lawmaker seeks new lawyer

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The House Ethics Committee has postponed its planned public trial for Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — the Florida Democrat facing accusations that she stole millions in FEMA funding — to later this month.

A hearing of an adjudicatory subcommittee of the Ethics panel was pushed from this Thursday to March 26 after the lawmaker’s “counsel in the matter withdrew from representing her before the adjudicatory subcommittee,” according to a committee press release.

“Representative Cherfilus-McCormick asked for a brief continuance to allow her to retain new counsel,” the statement continued.

Lawmakers on the Ethics Committee, which adjudicates allegations of misconduct against House members and staff, were poised to meet to determine whether the allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick have been proven by “clear and convincing evidence.” There, the committee’s counsel and Cherfilus-McCormick’s counsel could have made their respective cases.

It’s highly unusual for the panel to operate in the open, let alone convene a trial. The last time House Ethics met in such a capacity was in 2010 to consider the case of late-Rep. Charlie Rangel, a New York Democrat accused of a number of charges, including inappropriately soliciting funds and financial disclosure violations.

Rangel’s situation had parallels to that of Cherfilus-McCormick. At the time, Rangel was irate over the Ethics Committee’s handling of the matter, claiming he was denied due process because he could not hire a lawyer in time for the hearing. At one point, he threatened to exit the room and left.

“I don’t think it’s fair that I participate in any type of proceeding if in fact what you are basically telling me that the political calendar will not allow you enough … time to allow me to get a lawyer at this crucial point in my life,” Rangel said, alluding to the fact that the Ethics Committee was rushing to conclude its business before the end of the legislative session.

The panel nearly unanimously voted to censure Rangel for his conduct, which the House approved shortly afterward.

Cherfilus-McCormick, like Rangel, had previously asked for the proceedings against her to be delayed. Her then-lawyer argued that the Justice Department’s criminal proceedings necessitated a stay in the Ethics Committee’s work. The Florida Democrat cited, among other examples, former Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, whose own case pending before House Ethics case was paused after a request from DOJ.

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