Congress
Capitol agenda: The hard-liners enter the chat
Tuesday was all about the SALT Republicans. Now, it’s the conservative hard-liners’ turn to make noise.
After the impasse over the state-and-local-tax deduction boiled over Tuesday — more on that below — several GOP hard-liners emerged late Tuesday night expressing their own dissatisfaction with the megabill to pass President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Rep. Paul Gosar said “not nearly enough” is being done to win conservatives’ votes. Rep. Eric Burlison told Blue Light News parts of it are “disturbing” and that he isn’t satisfied with the Medicaid numbers. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris said in a post on X“the proposal to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid will do little to achieve that.”
“What a joke,” he wrote.
Expect hard-right pushback to come to a head on Monday when Speaker Mike Johnson has to get the bill through the Rules Committee — and, more specifically, win the support of conservative panel members Chip Roy, Morgan Griffith and Ralph Norman.
It’s not just a House problem. Sen. Ron Johnson is also threatening to tank the megabill if he doesn’t get several trillions dollars in additional spending cuts. It’s a troubling sign for Senate GOP leaders who can only afford to lose three votes. The Wisconsin Republican has a history of forcing leadership to bend to his whims; his hardball tactics during Republicans’ last reconciliation bill secured a new deduction rate for pass-through businesses.
But at the moment, the House speaker is focused on solving a different problem: working out a SALT deal with a handful of blue-state Republicans after failing to reach agreement in a Tuesday night huddle.
“More sizzle than steak in that meeting,” Rep. Nick LaLota said, while acknowledging they made progress. Johnson said similarly leaving the meeting.
Reminder: The current Ways and Means proposal would triple the existing cap to $30,000. But SALT Republicans are demanding a number closer to $60,000. To close the gap, they’re pointing to the additional fiscal breathing room from the GOP’s tax bill coming in underneath a $4 trillion cost target, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter.
“The number that we have in our bill, I advocated for,” Chair Jason Smith said Tuesday night. “Most of the committee wanted 20 [thousand]. It covers 95 to 98 percent of every one of their districts. That’s the truth. I think 30’s a good deal.”
Maybe so, but expect the SALT crew to hold out for a number starting with a “4.”
Meanwhile, an update on some key markups overnight:
— Ways and Means is still ongoing, with Democrats continuing to accuse Republicans of seeking to pair tax cuts for the rich with slashing health care benefits for the poor, our Bernie Becker writes in. Republicans have so far defeated a range of Democratic amendments, including four that would have cut off tax cuts at certain income thresholds and one that sought to extend premium tax credits and expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
— Energy and Commerce is also going strong after getting off to a dramatic start when at least 26 people were arrested for protesting Medicaid cuts outside the meeting room. The panel began debate on the health policy section of the draft bill a little before 1 a.m., our Ben Leonard reports. So far, Democrats have honed in on the GOP’s proposals to institute work requirements in the program, arguing they would do little to boost employment while leaving millions without coverage; Republicans have countered there are plenty of exceptions and minimal red tape.
The committee late Tuesday approved the bill’s energy and environment titles, which would claw back billions of dollars in unspent funds from the Democrats’ 2022 climate law and speed up permitting for fossil fuel projects. And shortly after midnight Wednesday, the panel cleared the communications portion of the draft legislation that would most notably institute a 10-year moratorium on state AI legislation — a provision that might not pass the procedural smell test in the Senate.
— Agriculture paused debate last night around midnight with plans to resume work at 10 a.m. Committee Republicans are appearing to fall in line behind a plan to cut $300 billion in spending for the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, which the panel’s chair, G.T. Thompson, attributed to “member education” on the issue. Democrats delivered emotional pushback against the overhaul.
What else we’re watching:
— RFK Jr. testifies on Blue Light News: Expect lawmakers to hammer HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over sweeping staff cuts during his testimony before both the House and Senate today, even after the Trump administration asked some of the thousands of federal public health workers it laid off to return permanently.
— Zeldin takes the hot seat: Lawmakers are also expected to grill EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin when he testifies today in front of Senate Appropriations. Appropriators will zero in on proposed deep budget cuts to the agency, including energy and environment programs that have broad bipartisan support.
— Contentious emissions vote: Senate Republicans could vote as soon as next week on a controversial proposal to nix federal waivers allowing California to set its own emissions standards, although Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t committed to that timeline. Some GOP senators remain wary that the chamber’s parliamentarian is backing a Government Accountability Office finding that the waiver isn’t subject to the Congressional Review Act.
Jordain Carney, Sophie Gardner, Meredith Lee Hill, Alice Miranda Ollstein, Andres Picon and Sean Reilly contributed to this report.
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.
Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination is on the brink after Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced Friday that she would oppose confirming him.
The Alaska Republican said in a statement that she did not believe Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since April, would act to rein in President Donald Trump and reverse the “politicization—even weaponization” of the Justice Department that has “accelerated” under Trump.
“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” she said. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”
Blanche’s fate is now thought to come down to Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who has been increasingly critical of the president since losing his renomination campaign to a Trump-backed Republican earlier this year.
Cassidy met with Blanche alongside Murkowski Wednesday afternoon but hasn’t yet said how he will vote. Blanche has to win his support in order to be confirmed, given unified opposition from Democrats and opposition from Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
The extended absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for health reasons has also left Republicans short of a vote.
Murkowski cited Blanche’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and the settlement agreement reached between Trump and the IRS under his watch as well as DOJ’s “repeated targeting” of Trump’s political enemies.
Senate Republicans rejecting Blanche would be a significant blow to Trump, who has pressured GOP senators to support Blanche over the past week as his nomination has been in limbo. And it would come as he’s already fuming at the conference, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, over their inability to end the legislative filibuster and pass the elections bill known as the SAVE America Act.
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