Congress
Capitol agenda: Trump’s turn to jump into the megabill fight
House Republican leaders are bringing in their biggest gun Tuesday as they race to pacify critics and pass their “big, beautiful bill” in the coming days.
Where things stand: Blue-state Republicans emerged from a late Monday meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson without a deal on a state-and-local-tax deduction, feeling uncertain if they could clinch a final agreement. It’s one of many hangups GOP leaders have to resolve before Rules meets on the bill at 1 a.m. Wednesday, with a House floor vote to eventually follow.
Now Johnson’s finally playing the Trump card. The president is expected to speak to members during Tuesday’s 8:30 a.m. conference meeting. “I think you’re going to see the squeeze come,” Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) predicted in an interview with former Rep. Matt Gaetz Monday night.
GOP leaders hope Trump can dissuade some hard-liners from putting up a bigger fight over requests like deeper Medicaid cuts and a complete repeal of IRA clean-energy tax credits, while convincing the SALT crew to finally take a deal.
Johnson said Monday night he expects “lots of encouragement to get this thing done” from the president Tuesday. Asked if he wants Trump to give direction on Medicaid, Johnson said, “I think he already has.”
They might need some more clarification. After a meeting with moderates, Johnson said so-called FMAP changes affecting state reimbursement rates aren’t on the table — and haven’t been for some time. But Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (Md.) said he thinks FMAP is “the simplest way” to meet hard-liners’ Medicaid demands and suggested they’re ready to hold out longer to get what they want.
Some good news for Johnson: The early-morning Rules meeting might not be a roadblock, after all. Republicans can lose two votes on the committee, and Rep. Ralph Norman (S.C.), one of four Republicans whose initial opposition to the megabill delayed a Budget Committee vote, said Monday he would advance it in Rules. (Texas Rep. Chip Roy, another hard-liner on the committee, told Mia he still has “major issues.”)
But the speaker still faces tough math on the floor — and tough dynamics as he tries to close a deal. Giving one faction what they want on SALT and Medicaid could drive another faction away from an agreement. “The more SALT that they want, the more my appetite for finding savings in other places [grows],” Freedom Caucus Rep. Eric Burlison (Mo.) said on Monday.
What else we’re watching:
— House Judiciary ICE hearing: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team are slamming the DOJ for charging Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) with assault Monday in connection with a chaotic confrontation outside an ICE detention facility in New Jersey earlier this month. That’s setting up a contentious House Judiciary hearing Tuesday examining ICE operations.
— Billy Long on Blue Light News: Former Rep. Billy Long will testify in front of Senate Finance Tuesday in his quest for confirmation as IRS commissioner. Republicans are expected to press Long about his past work pitching a certain pandemic-era tax credit known as the Employee Retention Credit, which was found to be rife with fraudulent claims.
— Thune contemplates CRA: Senate Republicans will announce as soon as Tuesday whether to bring up a Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution that nixes California’s emissions standards waiver. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), the GOP sponsor of the Senate’s resolution, met Monday night with four Republicans viewed as potential swing votes: Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Curtis of Utah.
Hailey Fuchs and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
The chair of the House Agriculture Committee said he’s not willing to “accept bad results” as a tradeoff for the benefits of advancements in artificial intelligence — a direct rebuttal to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“As someone who practiced health care for 28 years, I’m never willing to accept bad results. I think we just need to do our best,” Rep. G.T. Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, told reporters Monday.
He was responding to Altman’s comments to Decoded by Blue Light News that people “should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency.”
Pressed further on whether he agreed with Altman’s premise, Thompson replied, “No, I think we have to work harder to prevent any bad things from happening.”
Altman’s comments come in the wake of increased panic over the risks of catastrophic destruction from AI, with many industry leaders and experts arguing that guardrails are needed on the technology to prevent it from spinning out of human control.
Pressure is building on Congress to regulate the rapidly-advancing technology, but lawmakers are divided over whether the AI industry needs federal regulation or if it’s capable of governing itself.
The executives of major AI labs and tech companies gathered at the White House last week to discuss solutions with President Donald Trump, who believes overregulating AI will have national security repercussions. The group ended up signing a “morally binding” AI accord that critics say won’t do enough to prevent a worst-case scenario.
Thompson noted Monday he believes that AI will bring “tremendous solutions,” specifically in regards to finding cures for health issues like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. But he also said AI has to be led with “principle” — comparing it to how he addressed digital assets in a bill to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, which he worked on as chair of the Agriculture Committee.
“The first principle is ‘do no harm.’ So we need to protect consumers, and that means, I think, building some guardrails — some guidelines — to do that,” Thompson said. He added that the second principle is to “foster innovation.”
“I think AI has a lot to do with that,” he added. “I don’t think AI works without RI: Real Intelligence.”
LE SUEUR, Minnesota — Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday there is no “consensus” yet on advancing a bill establishing permanent daylight saving time even as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Republicans to pass it.
Thune addressed the matter in a Monday interview after Trump used his Truth Social account multiple times over the weekend to rail against the legislation, known as the Sunshine Protection Act — going so far as to post the personal cell phone number of one of its GOP opponents, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas.
“The president feels strongly on it like he does a lot of issues,” he said. “It’s something we’re having conversations about but there’s no clear path forward or consensus on it yet.”
While Trump singled out Cotton for scrutiny, Thune made clear the opposition to the permanent daylight saving time proposal — which would lead to very late winter sunrises in some parts of the country — ran deeper than one senator.
Cotton has publicly voiced opposition to the proposal for year, citing, among other things, the fact that children in his state would be going to school in the dark for part of the year.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) voiced similar objections Monday to reporters in the Capitol, saying he was mindful of “safety concerns in the more northern and rural states where children get on the school bus in very early hours.”
Thune, who spoke during a campaign swing in Minnesota with GOP Senate nominee Michele Tafoya, has himself opposed previous daylight saving bills. He said Monday that “a lot of it depends on where you are in the country” and that “your geography probably has as much to do with your position on that as anything.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who has aligned himself closely with Trump, is among the lawmakers who have been pushing to get the bill through the Senate. He recently told POLITICO, “I’m going to make sure it gets passed this year.”
Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.
Democrats have pulled back some of their ads in North Carolina’s Senate race, days after the top Senate Republican super PAC paused its future spending in the state.
WinSenate, a group affiliated with the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC, has removed roughly $1.1 million in North Carolina ad buys this week, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact. The group still has roughly $18.8 million in future reservations through Election Day.
“Senate Majority PAC is committed to seeing this race through to victory, and will continue to make spending decisions based on how to best build a strong Senate majority,” Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French said in a statement.
The move, combined with the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund’s decision to pause future spending, are a signal that both parties are shifting resources amid an ever-expanding Senate map. Democrats are increasingly confident in their North Carolina Senate nominee, Roy Cooper, as he continues to hold a sizable lead in public polling over Republican Michael Whatley — but some privately say states like Michigan and New Hampshire need more resources.
Meanwhile, multiple Republican groups, not just SLF, have retreated from the state in recent weeks, effectively deciding that it’s no longer worth the money to boost Whatley’s campaign.
The Koch-aligned Americans for Prosperity Action left North Carolina off its $22 million list of future spending across key Senate contests, and Old North Action removed $6.5 million in ad reservations last month.
The Cooper campaign, however, is still treating the race as competitive, pointing to North Carolina’s closely divided electorate and the fact that President Donald Trump won the state in each of the past three presidential elections.
“North Carolina is a truly 50/50 state and Democrats haven’t won a US Senate race in 18 years. We can’t take anything for granted or our eye off the ball,” said Morgan Jackson, a senior adviser to the Cooper campaign. “DC is broken and we’re going to continue to run this race like we’re ten points down to ensure North Carolinians get the change they desperately need.”
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