Congress
Capitol agenda: Trump’s trade rep takes the hot seat
Republican senators desperate for an off-ramp to Trump’s escalating trade war want to know Donald Trump’s endgame now — even as GOP leaders pledge to give the president “space” to let his market-tanking tariff gamble play out.
Expect it all to play out in front of Senate Finance, where Trump’s top trade representative Jamieson Greer testifies starting at 10 a.m. It’s the first of two annual Hill hearings this week on the president’s trade policies that will now serve to show the scope of the fallout from Trump’s blanket-tariff strategy.
Republicans are eager to hear more about potential trade deals that could help calm the markets. “The faster we can get some negotiations done and resolved, the better,” committee member Sen. James Lankford told Blue Light News on Monday.
Indeed, Greer plans to argue that Trump’s tariff strategy is “already bearing fruit,” according to a copy of his prepared remarks that we reviewed. “Nearly 50 countries have approached me to discuss the president’s new policy and explore how to achieve reciprocity,” he plans to say.
But Trump is still playing coy about whether he intends to negotiate, even after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s weekend warning to the president that he needs to focus more on cutting deals or risk a further economic meltdown. Trump on Monday threatened to slap an additional 50 percent tariff on China, disparaged the idea of a trade deal with the European Union and did not announce a tariff agreement with Israel during a closely watched meeting with PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Turning his attention to Blue Light News, he mocked his trade-policy critics as “Weak and Stupid” while pledging to veto bipartisan legislation from GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley — and backed by a half-dozen other Republicans — that would return some control over enacting tariffs to Congress. GOP Rep. Don Bacon is pursuing similar legislation in the House. Neither are likely to see floor action.
The salvos appeared to have their intended effect: Outright breaks with Trump’s brash trade policy remain limited inside the GOP. Greer has been a key part of the pacification effort — privately briefing Hill Republicans over the past few weeks in an attempt to assuage nervous free-market-supporting members.
Greer can certainly expect a grilling from Senate Democrats. Ranking member Ron Wyden plans to slam the administration for offering “no clear message” about how Trump chose his tariff targets and how long he plans to keep them up, according to prepared remarks Blue Light News reviewed. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ message: The blanket tariffs are “illegal and another step toward authoritarianism.”
What else we’re watching:
– Budget business: GOP leaders are planning to bring the Senate-approved budget resolution to the Rules Committee today — but there are still plenty of hurdles to leap before a planned vote on Wednesday. Several hard-liners still want steeper spending cuts, even after Johnson stopped by the House Freedom Caucus on Monday night.
– Trump’s military moves: Bipartisan concerns about reports that the Trump administration is considering major changes to military posture in Europe are likely to take center stage when House Armed Services hears today from the commander of U.S. forces in Europe, Gen. Christopher Cavoli. Chair Mike Rogers plans to raise his objections to a reduced U.S. role in Europe.
– SNAP takes the spotlight: House Agriculture will convene this morning to discuss “the power of work” related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — the first public meeting this Congress about House Republicans’ plan to cut agriculture spending.
Jordain Carney, Daniel Desrochers, Joe Gould, Benjamin Guggenheim, Ari Hawkins, Connor O’Brien, Jennifer Scholtes and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
Ideally, the Senate would be adjourning for a five-week break in less than 24 hours.
Instead, Republican senators are still navigating what Majority Leader John Thune described as a “train wreck” as they face a pileup of legislation, key nominations and public pressure from President Donald Trump and angry conservatives to show progress on a GOP election bill Trump views as his “No. 1 priority.”
They’re heading into Thursday — when the scent of jet fumes typically starts wafting through the halls of Congress — without a deal that would let them speed up votes on a government funding bill or long-stalled Russia sanctions bill.
Meanwhile, Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination is still stuck in limbo after he came to the Capitol Wednesday for a roughly hourlong meeting with two key Republican holdouts.
That said, the general outlines of a deal that would allow senators to quickly get out of Washington and onto the campaign trail has started taking shape, even as senators and aides acknowledged they might have to stick around at least a little bit longer than they’d hoped.
“Don’t kill the vibe — it’s starting to pick up,” Thune said in an interview, while cautioning that “you’re not going to be smelling those [jet fumes] anytime real soon. … We’ve obviously got, like I said, a stack of stuff to do.”
One key issue Republicans haven’t yet settled is a new party-line spending bill that would pump billions of dollars into the Pentagon, to ailing farmers and into some elections-related spending that could take some of the Trump-fueled pressure off — even as several people with knowledge of the discussions said the votes aren’t there.
Thune hasn’t formally ruled out taking up a budget blueprint for the GOP bill, saying Wednesday it was “hard to say at this point” if he had the votes. But he indicated there was progress behind the scenes toward an exit strategy that would allow Republicans to start their recess with minimal internal friction.
“There’s not clarity, but it’s getting less cloudy if you put it that way,” Thune said.
Three people granted anonymity to discuss internal discussions said that endgame would not involve the time-consuming process of advancing a budget, but instead calling up a vote related to the SAVE America Act, the Trump-backed elections bill.
Republican leaders are hoping that holding a vote on the elections proposal, at the Senate’s usual 60-vote threshold for legislation, will let them hammer Democrats as the holdup while satisfying Republicans who have been frustrated over the lack of progress and have threatened to oppose leaving town.
“We’re looking at options there,” Thune said about possible SAVE America-related votes.
He added that it “remains to be seen” if that would be enough to placate Trump-allied rabble-rousers, “but we’ve had a number of conversations now about how we get the votes people feel are necessary.”
A key MAGA ally, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, posted a social media video Wednesday thanking Thune, saying that the conversation has moved in a “favorable direction” and that Republicans were discussing “what procedural vehicle to use in order to get this thing done.”
Thune has several other obstacles to clear besides the SAVE America fight.
Senators want an agreement that would let them extend government funding into mid-December, pass a sanctions bill targeting Russia in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, confirm dozens of Trump nominees, including Blanche, and start work on a bipartisan college sports bill.
The highest drama surrounds Blanche, who met Wednesday with GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Neither said afterward how they would vote on his nomination. With Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and every Democrat expected to oppose Blanche, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) out for health reasons, he will need to win support from at least one of the two.
The legislative targets have issues, too: Republicans are grappling with intraparty wrangling over hemp language included in the stopgap bill, and Democrats are working through concerns in their ranks about the sanctions bill.
They also want to know if Republicans are going to force them to take a vote on cryptocurrency legislation that many Democrats currently oppose. They are eager to avoid taking that vote ahead of the recess as bipartisan talks happen behind the scenes — especially because a failed vote could potentially fuel tens of millions of dollars of campaign spending against Democratic opponents by industry allies.
Democrats are also looking for signals from Republicans about whether they will move forward with the party-line budget plan. But it was clear by Wednesday afternoon that major obstacles remained.
One GOP senator said Wednesday evening that “there won’t be the votes to do reconciliation and that will simplify things” for the rest of the schedule.
At a Senate GOP lunch meeting, Budget Chair Ron Johnson of Wisconsin presented his ideas for the budget blueprint. It would closely mirror a version that the House advanced last month, but it would also instruct a host of new committees to help draft the bill — expanding the range of issues Democrats could force vulnerable GOP incumbents to take tough votes on just months before the midterms.
Besides ongoing intra-GOP disputes about the amount of Pentagon funding to include and whether to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere, Thune is dealing with senators who aren’t convinced that they should force the issue just months before voters cast ballots.
Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who described himself as a “lean no” on the budget, said his views were being influenced by wanting to protect vulnerable colleagues.
“There’s only like five members of my conference that I care about. and they’re the ones who are running in at-risk states,” he said.
Asked if he would vote “no” to protect them, Tillis added, “I’m going to support my members who are up for election. They’re the most important priority right now.”
President Donald Trump and top White House officials are privately lobbying Republican senators to delay a ban on intoxicating hemp that’s set to kick in this fall.
At the Trump administration’s urging, the government funding patch the Senate is working to pass this week would push off the forthcoming ban of some cannabis products derived from hemp. But several Republican senators are demanding a vote to strip the delay out and let that prohibition kick in come November.
They’re hearing from the White House about it.
Trump called Sen. Ted Budd on Tuesday night, after the North Carolina Republican filed an amendment to ensure the ban kicks in as mandated on Nov. 12, according to a Senate aide granted anonymity to describe the private discussion. On the call, the president discussed creating a federal regulatory framework for hemp but did not ask Budd to withdraw his amendment, the individual added.
“I’ve been asked by lots of people to stand down on this amendment,” Budd told reporters Wednesday.
Budd noted that the Trump administration has had almost nine months to come up with a plan for implementing the ban.
“So why all of a sudden pop up for some seemingly innocent delay?” he asked, accusing the White House of instead preparing to “jam this on some must-pass” funding package at year’s end to further delay the prohibition.
A White House official granted anonymity to discuss the private debate said the Trump administration is seeking “a modest four-week delay” through the Dec. 11 expiration of the funding patch “to allow for productive conversations to continue.” Some synthetic cannabis products would be permanently banned in the meantime, the official added.
The administration lobbying has successfully swayed some Senate Republicans, such as Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who said in an interview that “the White House has committed to me that they’re committed to regulate the industry.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of hemp-rich Kentucky said the issue came up “in a big way” during Senate Republicans’ private lunch meeting Wednesday. Paul said he spoke in support of delaying the ban and said those arguing for a delay “aren’t very rational.”
“They’re wanting to hold up the funding for the government over one month,” he said. “It’s kind of insane.”
Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is in the Capitol meeting with holdout GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiania as he tries to lock down their support for his confirmation as permanent leader of the Justice Department.
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