Congress
Capitol agenda: What’s next in the GOP budget saga
Senate Republicans have a new budget blueprint to jump-start President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, and Majority Leader John Thune wants to adopt it by Saturday. It’s looking like he’ll make it happen, but things aren’t so clear in the House.
Here’s a rundown of where things stand:
Senators are digesting the budget plan. While we’re not seeing sufficient defections to tank it, some key players have questions. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, for example, says she’s undecided on a key aspect of the proposal — the “current policy baseline” idea that would treat an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts as costing nothing — and is concerned that the House’s budget guidelines would force Medicaid cuts.
What’s in it? In addition to making tax cut extensions costless, it would let Senate Finance draft another $1.5 trillion of tax relief. It would also green-light a $5 trillion debt-ceiling hike that GOP lawmakers hope will get them through the next election (though Sen. Rand Paul wants to force a vote to shrink that). Senate committees would have to cut the deficit by only a few billion dollars, while the House would have to do it by $1.5 trillion — underscoring the lingering political divides between Republicans in the two chambers.
Some Republicans believe Trump might be needed to seal the deal in the Senate.
“He had to do it for the House budget,” Sen. John Kennedy said. “He may have to do it for the Senate. But that wouldn’t be anything new.”
You will probably not be surprised to learn that the outlook is less rosy in the House.
Though Speaker Mike Johnson said he plans to push through the budget next week, he’s seeing defections over the Senate’s changes to what the House adopted in February. It comes after he lost control of the House floor this week in a clash with fellow Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna over proxy voting for new parents.
House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington ripped the Senate’s plan as fiscally irresponsible and predicted it wouldn’t fly with his colleagues.
Trump praised the Senate budget during his Rose Garden trade event Wednesday and later in a post on Truth Social, urging Republicans to “UNIFY.” He attempted to smooth out concerns from the Senate’s deficit hawks in a meeting on Wednesday morning.
Adding to the pressure is rising Republican anxiety about the midterms after Tuesday’s landslide loss in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race and underperformance Florida’s special elections for two House seats. Some Republicans, including vulnerable members like Sen. Thom Tillis, are now cautioning that Trump’s shock-and-awe governing strategy could backfire at the ballot box and are calling for a major recalibration.
One bright spot for Trump and Republicans here: Johnson just grew his majority by two after swearing in Florida Reps. Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis Wednesday night. He can now lose up to three Republicans on a party-line vote.
What else we’re watching:
— Tariff action: As Trump rattled financial markets with his “Liberation Day” tariff announcement Wednesday, four Senate Republicans voted with Democrats to end his trade war with Canada. Now, Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks wants to try to force a House vote on rejecting Trump’s latest slate of tariffs.
— Johnson fights to unjam the House: The speaker signaled Wednesday evening that he may be close to a breakthrough in the proxy-voting clash with Luna that paralyzed the House this week and threatened progress on Trump’s agenda. While Johnson said he still opposes Luna’s effort to allow proxy voting for new parents, he’s been in frequent contact with her behind the scenes over potential legislative options to resolve the situation.
Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Brian Faler and Jennifer Scholtes contributed reporting.
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.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) declined to respond directly Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to denounce his former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller over abuse accusations leveled by Moreno’s daughter: “These aren’t accusations in my world,” he said.
“In my world, this is the reality,” Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. “This is not something that is theoretical to me. This is my lived reality of my daughter and my family every single solitary day.”
In an interview with Dasha Burns for Blue Light News’s The Conversation, Johnson declined to take sides in the dispute between Miller (R-Ohio) and Emily Moreno. He called for a House Ethics probe to “play out.”
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship11 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words