Congress
Capitol agenda: Sprinting into Budget day
House Republicans are steamrolling toward Friday morning’s scheduled Budget Committee markup even as a growing number of issues threaten to block progress on their “big, beautiful bill.”
GOP leaders went back and forth overnight with conservatives after they threatened to tank the bill over key disagreements around Medicaid work requirements and IRA tax credits. Other holdouts are pushing to postpone the markup until all the Congressional Budget Office scores are released, which could take days.
And even if they do strike an agreement in time for the 9 a.m. markup, it could be more or less a handshake. Republicans won’t be able to tweak actual language in the bill Friday — they’ll have to wait for the Rules markup on Monday. And with a list of outstanding issues from different factions in the conference, any addition to smooth tensions could cause a chain reaction of other defections.
Here are the latest sticking points to watch:
MEDICAID — Hard-liners appear to have gotten a bone here, with GOP leadership signaling they are seriously considering moving up the implementation of new work requirements in the program from 2029 to 2027. That could lead to tens of billions of dollars in savings, but would also lead to more coverage losses ahead of the 2028 election.
Most moderates appear on board, but it’s unclear if the changes will be enough to placate hard-liners, who feel the current proposed cuts are woefully insufficient. Conservatives are also pushing for immigrants in the country illegally to be immediately removed from Medicaid access. But additional changes like that could reignite moderates’ wariness.
Meanwhile, Rep. Kat Cammack and other GOP Floridians have concerns about provisions freezing taxes that states levy on providers to finance their Medicaid programs, saying they would hurt Florida more than other states. Still, Cammack voted Energy and Commerce’s portion with those policies out of committee.
IRA CLIMATE TAX CREDITS — Hard-liners are also demanding a faster phase-out of clean energy tax credits enacted under former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. But Hill GOP defenders of the clean energy incentives now have to decide how far to push their demands to spare at least some of the credits.
“We have alternative language and it’s something we’re going to work with leadership to try to get them to implement,” said Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), co-chair of the House Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus.
Speaker Mike Johnson promised to use a “scalpel” and not a “sledgehammer” in any tax credit changes.
FEDERAL EMPLOYEE PENSIONS — Some Republicans are also concerned about a proposal to spur federal employees to contribute more money to their retirement savings. Several moderate Republicans met with Johnson throughout Thursday on the issue.
“You can change people’s pensions that are coming into the workforce,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told Blue Light News. “Don’t change them when they’ve been working. You don’t change the rules on people.”
The plan would hit lawmakers and congressional staffers’ own wallets.
STATE-AND-LOCAL-TAX DEDUCTIONS — The latest proposed number from a key group of blue-state Republicans is $62,000, said Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY). That’s more than double the current offer in the bill, prolonging the impasse between SALT Republicans and GOP leadership.
“A lot of work to do if we’re going to get this one big, beautiful bill over the finish line, especially by Memorial Day,” LaLota said on Thursday. “Still a lot of variables.”
What else we’re watching:
— Crypto vote incoming: Majority Leader John Thune moved Thursday to tee up landmark cryptocurrency legislation for a procedural vote on the Senate floor early next week. The move comes as negotiators circulate an updated draft of the crypto bill that includes new concessions to Democrats.
— Tucked into the tax bill: The sprawling tax package before the House is pocked with the sort of bespoke tax breaks lawmakers in both parties have long lamented. In a search for votes, and hemmed in by their tiny majority, Republicans have proposed a hodgepodge of tax provisions aimed at narrow constituencies.
— Senate warnings ahead: Key Senate Republicans say the House GOP’s proposal to slash funding for the nation’s largest food aid program would push too many costs on states and won’t pass their chamber. “I’ve read [the House’s bill], and I think it’s going to have a do-over,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said.
Samuel Benson, Brian Faler, Jasper Goodman, Meredith Lee Hill, Katherine Tully-McManus and Lawrence Ukenye contributed to this report.
The Senate Saturday confirmed Todd Blanche to be attorney general, following a weeks-long struggle with a handful of wary Republicans.
The Senate voted 50-49 to approve him, with GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining with Democrats in opposition.
Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, has been serving as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi’s ouster in April. Questions about Blanche’s potential conflicts of interest from representing Trump, as well as his role in the creation of a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of Trump’s settlement this spring with the IRS, created headwinds to his confirmation among a key group of Senate Republicans.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who lost re-election after Trump endorsed a primary challenger, helped Blanche clinch his 50th vote Friday. He said Blanche wasn’t perfect but that he wasn’t sure Trump would pick someone better to lead the Justice Department.
“The choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche,” Cassidy said on the Senate floor. “It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.”
Cassidy’s support came after Blanche had already spent weeks negotiating with Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, who vetted his nomination as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cornyn struck an agreement with Blanche Sunday for the DOJ to curtail the payout fund and rein in a deal to exempt Trump from IRS audits.
Cassidy’s support came hours after Murkowski announced that she would oppose Blanche’s nomination, putting it on the brink of potential failure. Between unified opposition from Democrats and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s absence for health reasons, Blanche could only lose two Republicans and still be confirmed.
Hours before Friday’s vote, Murkowski told reporters she spoke with Blanche multiple times but that she was “good with where I am.” She said there was no “one” thing that motivated her decision.
“If there was one thing, we might be able to go back to the White House and say ‘Hey, can we work on this one thing,’” she said. “But for me it was a compilation.”
She added that she believed the anti-weaponization fund is “pretty dead” but “what is not so clear” are the audit immunity provisions of Trump’s IRS agreement, “which I just think are viewed by so many in this country as kind of a special and sweet deal for the president and his family.”
The Senate passed a bill Saturday to fund the government beyond the midterm elections, putting the onus back on the House to head off a shutdown looming Oct. 1.
The Senate approved the measure in a bipartisan 90-6 vote, with Sen. Darline Graham of South Carolina voting present. The bill would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions. Senate leaders sped up consideration of the legislation as part of an agreement reached Saturday morning to allow members to leave for August recess.
The House and Senate have now each passed different bills aimed at averting a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year. The House bill would fund the government through Dec. 4.
The Senate legislation sets up a year-end standoff over the Trump administration’s controversial plan to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants. The bill would block the administration from finalizing that rule during the length of the stopgap — and lawmakers are already expecting a December brawl over the issue.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said this week that he’s going to “fight like hell” in December to ensure Congress doesn’t further obstruct the grant overhaul.
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are resistant to the White House approach to grants. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she will “continue to oppose” the Trump administration plans “because I think they politicize the grants process, and I don’t want that to occur.” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on Senate Appropriations, said she too would “welcome the fight.”
The Senate rejected an amendment from Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) intended to ensure that a ban on intoxicating hemp products kicks in come November, after Senate leaders at the White House’s urging included language in the funding bill to delay it.
The Senate bill includes language Democrats sought to ensure Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol don’t get any new funding under the patch. Republicans enacted $70 billion for those agencies along party lines earlier this year.
That prohibition could be contentious in the House.
Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) said in an interview that the provision “could be a dealbreaker” and that he’s “not a fan” of the Senate version. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said Tuesday that he would say he’s undecided if GOP leadership whipped his vote on the Senate stopgap.
“I do not like the Senate language,” Van Drew said, noting the grant approval provision. “It’s one I would want to know what the president thinks.”
The White House issued a statement of administration policy in support of the Senate’s funding bill. No such memo was issued for the House bill, which did not include the funding increases and authorizations the White House requested.
“Every Member of Congress should support passage of this [continuing resolution] to keep the Government open as discussions on full year appropriations continue,” it reads.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democratic appropriator in the House, praised the Senate measure for including the grant and immigration enforcement language.
“This bill is a clear improvement over the House Republican continuing resolution, but we are still nearly two months away from the end of the fiscal year and should be working together to pass full-year funding bills,” she said in a statement.
Mia McCarthy and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
The Senate is aiming to leave Washington for a five-week recess early Saturday after Republicans cut a deal with President Donald Trump to punt some of their priorities, including a framework for a party-line spending plan.
The Senate is trying to lock in an agreement that would set up votes on a college sports bill, a stopgap government funding bill, Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination and GOP voter ID legislation, according to a copy of an internal notice reviewed by Blue Light News.
The Senate would then leave Washington until mid-September.
Any one senator could object to the tentative deal, forcing it to be altered or dragging the Senate deeper into the weekend. Senators believe there are still objections to advancing the college sports bill. Democrats are also waiting to see if one of their own will prevent speeding up Blanche’s confirmation.
The breakthrough is a U-turn from earlier Friday evening, when Republican senators emerged from a closed-door meeting predicting they would have to spend Saturday trying to break a stalemate within the party about how to wrap final votes before recess.
Shortly after that meeting, Trump spoke by phone with Senate Republicans including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah about the path forward for the GOP’s lengthy to-do list.
During the call, according to Johnson, Trump agreed to punt a vote on a budget blueprint for a third party-line spending bill until later in the year. Lee, who has been pushing for action on the separate SAVE America Act, also agreed to drop his demand for a formal, roll call vote on adjourning given the understanding with the president.
“I think the conclusion of the conference – and we had a discussion with the president and he agrees – [is] don’t take the vote tonight,” Johnson said after the meeting in Thune’s office.
Republicans were in talks with the White House throughout Friday. A White House official granted anonymity said Friday evening that “we’re continuing to have productive conversations with senators to advance several legislative priorities.”
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