Congress
Capitol agenda: Quiet standoff over Trump’s agenda
Congress is back. Lawmakers have three weeks to make major progress on their behemoth party-line bill.
Hill Republicans are focused now on advancing President Donald Trump’s border, energy and tax priorities. Speaker Mike Johnson has set an aggressive goal of finalizing a budget blueprint with the Senate and getting it passed in the House by the week of April 7 — softening his earlier ambitions to pass the final bill by Easter. The budget is necessary for enacting Trump’s domestic agenda along party lines through a process known as reconciliation.
Efforts to resolve differences between the House and Senate GOP budget resolutions are going nowhere fast. Instead, House and Senate Republicans are mired in a blame game over who is slowing down the process.
There are several major hurdles for the House side: Republicans still need to determine how much they can slash from social safety-net programs. They also need to figure out how to extend existing tax cuts while providing new tax breaks Trump has promised, all without blowing a hole in the deficit — plus agree to a fix for the state and local tax deduction.
“How can we be moving quickly when some of those foundational questions haven’t been settled?” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis asked.
Senate GOP leaders have been careful to not provide any specific timeline on Trump’s agenda — though a person granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations said the goal is to adopt a modified budget resolution in the next three weeks. House Republicans are waiting on the Senate to agree on a fiscal outline before they draft any reconciliation bill, leaving the two chambers at a standstill.
Senate Republicans have been reluctant to hold another marathon vote series on a conforming budget resolution unless they are sure their House colleagues can actually pass a reconciliation bill with the $2 trillion in cuts Johnson promised to his hard-liners, according to three Republicans who were granted anonymity to detail their internal discussions.
“Probably what we are going to do is talk each other to death, stare at each other and then eventually, you know, confuse the issue so much that it takes two months to unravel what we agree to,” GOP Sen. Rand Paul said.
What else we’re watching:
- Rules meeting: House Rules will have a hearing at 4 p.m. Monday on an education bill that places new requirements on universities to report foreign gifts or contracts and two bills to overturn Biden-era energy standards for refrigerators and walk-in coolers under the Congressional Review Act. The House is set to bring those bills to a floor vote later this week.
- Judge impeachment alternatives: House Republicans are working through different options to appease Trump’s request for Judge James Boasberg’s impeachment. Rep. Brandon Gill’s bill to impeach Boasberg had 16 co-sponsors as of Sunday night. Meanwhile, GOP leaders are eyeing other options outside of impeachment, including Rep. Darrell Issa’s bill that would limit lower court judges’ ability to issue far-reaching injunctions, as we reported last week.
- X-date projection: The Bipartisan Policy Center predicted today that the United States will default on its $36 trillion national debt sometime between mid-July and October if Congress does not act — the first public prediction of when a so-called X-date could occur. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office plans to release its debt limit forecast on Wednesday.
Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
Democrats on the Budget Committee were frustrated by Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) first turn with the gavel after the new chair rebutted each of their remarks.
“Welcome to the chairmanship, but I find you are turning this into a debate committee and not a budget committee,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said during the Tuesday hearing on Medicaid.
Johnson, who took over chair after the unexpected passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) last month, fact checked Democrats on the committee after their allotted question time, which got on the nerves of his colleagues.
Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said near the end of the hearing that rebuttals by the chair aren’t “customary.”
Johnson, a frequent critic of the Medicaid program, defended his approach, which he said makes the hearings more “informative.” He sparred with Democrats on Tuesday over the impact of Medicaid cuts included in the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as well as Medicaid fraud and spending growth.
“I keep my comments pretty short,” he said. “There are important points to be made, and I will continue to do that. I hope it doesn’t offend my Democratic colleagues, but that will be my contention here.”
Rep. Max Miller, facing allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, said he would ask the House Ethics Committee to investigate the claims in an attempt to clear his name.
“In light of all the renewed interest in my family affairs I am going to file my own paperwork for an ethics investigation into myself to clear my name from these horrific attacks on myself and family,” the Ohio Republican said in an X post. “I have absolutely nothing to hide.”
Miller is facing calls to resign after GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno, the father of Miller’s ex-wife Emily Moreno, said he should not serve in the House and should “seek professional help.”
Miller has denied allegations of domestic abuse from Emily Moreno. He attempted to defend himself Sunday in a livestreamed monologue and by publishing a trove of documents related to the divorce. Those documents included an “intimate image” of their daughter, which Miller’s lawyer Aaron Minc said he uploaded by mistake.
A spokesperson for Emily Moreno did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Miller’s request for a House Ethics investigation. A committee spokesperson also did not immediately respond.
Miller said he would provide the panel with “all necessary documents needed for a detail examination.” It is unlikely the committee, which historically works slowly, would make any assessment ahead of the November midterm election where he is facing a strong Democratic challenger.
“The accusations continue to change, but my facts stay the same,” Miller said. “I am looking forward to my colleagues reading everything for themselves.”
Todd Blanche took a major step toward confirmation as attorney general Tuesday after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 on party lines to advance his nomination, likely setting up a final vote within days.
His nomination, at risk of being withdrawn just last week, now appears to be on a glide path toward approval. Blanche has been serving as acting attorney general since April, but President Donald Trump has been intent on installing his former personal lawyer permanently.
Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said ahead of the vote that Cornyn and Tillis’ concerns about the fund “and the IRS settlement were shared by many, including this senator.” He added that the changes Blanche made “put this issue to bed once and for all.”
Democrats lambasted the deal Cornyn and Tillis struck, saying it would not meaningfully bind Trump from eventually resurrecting the payout fund and using his to enrich his political allies, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“To state the obvious, Mr. Blanche’s statement on the slush fund and the IRS immunity agreement are not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement and are therefore unenforceable,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the panel. “The parties could still sue to enforce the agreement and the cop-beaters fund can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he “loves the state of Texas” but said the deal Cornyn agreed to is “all hat and no cattle.”
Booker, who is a vegan, asked, “Where’s the beef?”
Outside of the committee, there are a few GOP senators who could pose a hurdle in confirming Blanche, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. John Curtis of Utah and Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Murkowski called the written elimination of the payout fund a “pretty good step” Monday, while the others said they continue to evaluate Blanche’s nomination.
All four have yet to commit to voting for Blanche, and as long as all Democrats are unified in voting against him, he can only lose two Republican votes given the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has not voted since June due to health reasons.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wants to get Blanche confirmed before senators leave as soon as the end of this week for an extended recess.
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