Congress
John Thune and Donald Trump had a ‘spirited’ conversation over Senate war powers vote
McALLEN, Texas — Shortly after five Republican senators broke with Donald Trump and voted Thursday to advance a measure constraining his military options in Venezuela, the president lashed out and called for them to lose their seats.
Before he turned to Truth Social, however, he connected with John Thune and gave him a piece of his mind.
The Senate majority leader acknowledged the “very spirited” conversation with the angry president in an interview Friday after appearing with several Republican senators and candidates along the U.S.-Mexico border to promote last year’s GOP megabill.
“There’s a level of frustration at the White House — and with us, too, on a vote like that,” he said.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The war-powers fight is hardly over — the Senate still needs to debate and pass the resolution that was advanced Thursday, and even if the House passes it, which is unlikely, Trump could still veto it. But the surprising procedural vote contributed to a narrative that Trump is losing his grip on congressional Republicans after running roughshod over potential GOP renegades in 2025.
Two of the five senators — Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — supported a previous effort to rein Trump in on Venezuela. Three others — Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana — were more surprising.
Thune declined to predict whether he would be able to flip at least two to block the resolution’s passage next week, but he signaled a lobbying effort is underway.
“Obviously we’d love to have some of our colleagues come back around on that issue,” he said. “The constitutional questions, the legal questions, are being more sufficiently answered as people have probed into it.”
But he added that, for his part, no grudges would be held — no matter the outcome.
“The most important vote isn’t the last vote, it’s the next vote,” he said. “At the end of the day, there are going to be a lot more votes coming, and circumstances in which we’re going to have our team united as much as possible and work with the president.”
Congress
Johnson tries again on spy powers vote amid GOP rebellion
Speaker Mike Johnson will try again Thursday to push the House to extend an imperiled spy powers law after GOP resistance forced him to punt a vote Wednesday.
Johnson is scheduling a procedural vote for 3:15 p.m. and final passage around 5 p.m. He told POLITICO late Wednesday that he believed negotiators needed “a few more hours” to wrap up discussions on a potential compromise with conservatives concerned about U.S. citizens being caught up in government surveillance.
Talks between White House officials and House GOP hard-liners are ongoing, and there’s no deal yet, according to five people granted anonymity to discuss negotiations. Those people said an agreement by Friday seems more likely at this point and it’s possible Johnson has to delay the vote again ahead of the Monday expiration.
Johnson is racing to close out the internal GOP battle as President Donald Trump demands an 18-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The speaker needs to send the FISA extension to the Senate before the Monday deadline, leaving barely any time for the Senate to act and threatening a rare weekend session.
The House ultraconservatives opposed to the clean spy powers extension are trying to hash out an amendment involving warrant requirements, drawing on language from a measure by Louisiana Republican Rep. Clay Higgins.
White House officials, mindful of the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown, are also trying to finalize an agreement so they can tackle a party-line immigration enforcement bill and end the funding lapse.
Congress
Capitol agenda: GOP losing patience over Warsh fight
Republicans who want Kevin Warsh confirmed as the country’s next top economic official are growing more exasperated at a Trump administration probe standing in the way.
For months, outgoing GOP Sen. Thom Tillis has said he’d blockade President Donald Trump’s pick until the Justice Department drops an investigation into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Now a growing chorus of Republicans, eager to install Warsh as Powell’s term as chair comes to a conclusion next month, are joining the call for the administration to end the probe.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday he believed the administration should wrap up its investigation, and acknowledged that Warsh is basically stuck until then.
“I think at some point they’re going to have to deal with the committee, and they’re going to have to deal with Tillis,” Thune said of the administration.
Tillis holds a deciding vote on the Senate Banking panel, which scheduled a hearing on Warsh’s confirmation Tuesday. His GOP colleagues on the committee haven’t committed to blocking Warsh with him, but some are taking his side in calling for an end to the investigation into whether Powell lied to Congress during testimony last year about cost overruns at the Fed’s Washington headquarters.
Sen. Mike Rounds, who has previously declined to weigh in on the probe, told reporters Wednesday he wants to see it dropped so that Warsh can be confirmed.
“The president wants a different Fed chair. And we want to help him get there,” Rounds said. “But that requires right now that they resolve the issue surrounding this prosecution that is still taking place.”
Another Banking Republican granted anonymity to speak candidly predicted the administration and Tillis would ultimately find an off-ramp but told Jordain Carney the DOJ “should drop the investigation.”
And over in the House — which holds no sway over nominations — Financial Services Chair French Hill said Wednesday “it’s time for the administration to draw that investigation to a conclusion,” as “we want to make sure that we’ve got a new confirmed head of the Fed that we can work with in conducting oversight.”
Trump, meanwhile, is digging in and ratcheting up his conflict with Powell. He threatened Wednesday to fire Powell if he stays on as chair once his term ends — a growing possibility amid the Warsh stalemate. That follows a visit that officials from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office made to the Fed’s headquarters this week.
Asked about the prospect of getting Tillis’ vote to help secure his Fed nominee, Trump said on Fox Business that the North Carolinian is “no longer a senator,” given that Tillis is retiring at the end of his term.
But Tillis is standing his ground, Jordain and Jasper Goodman report, and he’s leaving the door open to exercising his power even more.
Tillis also sits on Senate Judiciary, where he will have a vote in the event the panel considers a successor to outgoing Attorney General Pam Bondi. He’s already warned he will block any attorney general nominee who has dismissed the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And he’s not completely ruling out making the Fed probe a litmus test for AG nominees if it continues.
“If we keep letting this go on, I have to consider other options for really amplifying my concern,” Tillis said of his Fed fight.
What else we’re watching:
— Johnson tries again on FISA: Speaker Mike Johnson is expecting to put a procedural vote on the House floor Thursday to renew key government spy powers after his attempt Wednesday failed. GOP leaders canceled a planned vote Wednesday amid disagreements over whether to allow members to amend the legislation reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
— RFK Jr. hearing palooza kicks off: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Thursday starts a stretch of seven congressional hearings in less than a week. The series serves as the first high-profile public forum to test the White House’s theory that Kennedy will help Republicans in the midterms.
— Selig likely to talk prediction markets: House Agriculture lawmakers Thursday are all but certain to press CFTC Chair Michael Selig on the surge in popularity — and controversy — surrounding prediction markets. Selig has emerged as the markets’ most prominent backer in Washington, but he’s also planning to make one thing clear to the lawmakers up front: He’s still the markets’ top cop.
Jordain Carney, Jasper Goodman, Mia McCarthy, Declan Harty, Carmen Paun, Simon Levien, Robert King and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
Congress
Platner raised $4 million, but Collins retains cash advantage
Progressive political newcomer Graham Platner outraised both Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Sen. Susan Collins in the first fundraising quarter in Maine’s key Senate race.
But Collins, seeking her sixth term, maintains a formidable cash advantage over both of her Democratic opponents that could give her a head start against whichever Democrat emerges from the June primary.
Platner raised $4.1 million in the first quarter, down from $4.6 million he had raised the prior quarter, while Mills brought in $2.6 million, down from $2.7 million in the final quarter of 2025, which had also included her campaign launch.
Collins brought in just over $3 million and had just over $10 million in the bank. She is also expected to be buoyed by a wave of outside money, with a super PAC supporting her, Pine Tree Results, reporting another $11.5 million cash on hand. Platner had $2.7 million in the bank, while Mills had just over $1 million.
Maine is one of national Democrats’ top targets as they seek to take back the Senate, with Collins the only Republican senator representing a seat won by Kamala Harris in 2024.
But it is one of the few battleground states where Democrats do not have a clear cash advantage. The comparatively lower fundraising totals for Platner and Mills compared to Democratic Senate candidates in states such as Ohio and North Carolina may reflect that some donors are still waiting on the sidelines to see which of the pair emerges to face Collins, while others are choosing sides.
Both Platner and Mills have faced challenges, albeit very different ones, in the primary. Mills, a two-term governor who entered the race with the backing of national Democrats, has trailed in recent public polling despite her near-universal name recognition. Platner, an oysterman and military veteran, quickly caught national attention and has drawn large crowds in the state. But he has been beset with a string of controversies involving old Reddit posts that began in mid-October, near the beginning of the previous fundraising quarter.
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