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House GOP leaders won’t bring up District of Columbia funding fix bill this week

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Speaker Mike Johnson and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke Monday on a call to discuss a path forward on legislation to restore the capital city’s spending powers, according to one person granted anonymity to share details of the private conversation.

Still, there are no plans to bring the bill to the House floor in the coming days before the chamber leaves for a two-week recess, said three people with direct knowledge of the schedule.

That will keep city officials in further limbo as they soon need to make decisions about whether to wait for congressional action or move ahead with plans to account for a looming budget shortfall of as much as $1.1 billion — requiring dramatic mid-fiscal-year cuts to law enforcement, infrastructure improvement efforts and public education.

Johnson back in March drafted a stopgap funding measure to float federal operations through the end of September that omitted key language typically included in appropriations bills allowing the District of Columbia to continue to spend its own locally-raised tax dollars.

The Senate passed legislation to restore that provision after clearing the standalone government funding bill to avoid an imminent shutdown. At that time, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) noted the measure had support from her counterpart, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.), as well as the White House.

President Donald Trump has since posted on social media that he wants the House to take up the funding fix, saying the chamber should vote on it “IMMEDIATELY” to “clean up our once beautiful Capital City, and make it beautiful again.”

Still, Johnson hasn’t moved the bill. People aware of internal party dynamics describe it as a casualty of unrelated floor schedule delays and an overloaded legislative calendar, where the District of Columbia budget fix just isn’t being made a priority. GOP leaders were at one point aiming to bring the measure to the floor before the upcoming Easter recess.

But Johnson is also contending with conservative fiscal hawks who aren’t fond of the capital city and its liberal leadership, and see the bill as giving away more than $1 billion away in federal funding — though that is not an accurate understanding of what the measure would actually do.

Johnson also wants to pass the measure through the regular order process, rather than jam it through under an expedited floor maneuver requiring two-thirds of those voting and present to vote in the affirmative. He is currently working to add conservative policy provisions to the underlying bill that would encourage more Republicans to come on board — though it’s unclear whether Democrats would stand for further infringements on its Home Rule authority.

A spokesperson for Bowser declined to comment.

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Congress

Senate GOP ready to move on elections bill

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Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told reporters Monday the chamber will vote Tuesday to take up a House-passed elections bill known as the SAVE America Act.

The Wyoming Republican, whose job it is to help round up support, said he is “doing everything I can to make sure we get on this bill tomorrow.”

Republicans will need a simple majority to begin debate on the partisan legislation; they can lose three members and still let Vice President JD Vance break a tie.

So far, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has said he’s a “no,” while Republicans are also watching GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

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Jesse Jackson’s family withdraws posthumous endorsement in Illinois Senate primary

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The family of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson walked back a posthumous endorsement of Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton’s Senate campaign on Monday, after the family said Jackson’s endorsements for Tuesday’s primaries were not completed before his death.

On Saturday, Stratton’s campaign touted an endorsement from Jackson, who died last month, and his son Yusef. The announcement came after Stratton saw Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Jackson family’s organziation, passing out sample ballots — which were also obtained by Blue Light News — that recommended Stratton.

“[Jackson’s] example has been a north star for me, and I’m deeply honored to have received his trust, support, and endorsement before his passing,” Stratton said in a statement on Saturday.

But on Monday, Yusef Jackson, who is the organization’s COO, said the draft sample ballot was “released without authorization” and that the Jackson family and Rainbow PUSH Coalition are not making political endorsements this cycle.

His father “began the process of reviewing candidates and identifying those he intended to support in the upcoming primary election,” Yusef Jackson said in the statement. “However, given his passing just over a month ago, the process was never fully completed. Out of respect for my father, we decided not to publicly release his intended selections given the process had not been finalized.”

The Stratton campaign said on Monday that officials with Rainbow PUSH Coalition said she had been endorsed by Jackson.

“Juliana spoke on Saturday at Rainbow PUSH for a Women’s History Month event and officials told her she received the endorsements. Organizers shared the sample election ballot that was already being distributed and encouraged her to share the news,” the Stratton campaign said in a statement.

The endorsement mix-up draws further scrutiny on the split among Black Democrats in Illinois between Stratton and Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), who are both seeking to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin. Some Democrats in the state have expressed concern that Stratton and Kelly could split the vote in Tuesday’s primary, creating a path for Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) to win the nomination.

Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) told Blue Light News prior to the family’s statement that his father “never got in on Black-on-Black fights.”

Jonathan Jackson added that the races the late Jesse Jackson “was excited about” were himself and former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s comeback bid.

“He wouldn’t do that. He was always pushing the community forward,” Jackson said. “This smells of desperation.”

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Johnson on Trump’s Hormuz plan

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Speaker Mike Johnson said he supports President Donald Trump’s effort to build a global coalition ensure safe passage of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz — even if Trump “didn’t anticipate it” being necessary before launching airstrikes against Iran.

Speaking to reporters after attending a Washington event with Trump, Johnson said the president told him that “he anticipated the strait of Hormuz would be closed.”

“I don’t know that he didn’t anticipate it in the front end, but now it’s necessitated,” Johnson said. He added that the coalition is “a reasonable thing” for other countries to assist with and “it would be helpful.”

Asked about how much a potential supplemental package to fund the military action would cost, Johnson said, “We don’t know yet.” Estimates for the cost of the war have exceeding $1 billion per day.

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