Congress
John Thune offers to tweak controversial phone records language
Senate Majority Leader John Thune offered Thursday to amend the controversial provision he slipped into last week’s government funding package that could award GOP senators hundreds of thousands of dollars for having their phone records seized without their knowledge as part of an investigation into President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Thune’s proposal, presented on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, would clarify that any payout to senators seeking damages would be directed back to the U.S. treasury and would not personally enrich lawmakers.
It comes less than 24 hours after the House voted unanimously to repeal the legislative language. It also follows a tense GOP lunch meeting Wednesday, where Thune got an earful from his own members upset they had no advance warning about the provision.
Republicans discussed how to change the legislative language during the closed-door meeting and spent much of Thursday working to nail down the changes before Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) came to the floor seeking unanimous consent to pass the House repeal measure.
The provision passed last week would allow lawmakers to be personally awarded at least $500,000, which could have resulted in millions of dollars transferred to several GOP senators who were singled out by former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s activities following the 2020 election.
There was no agreement on the floor Thursday to move forward with Thune’s proposed measure, which would not have changed the underlying statutory language. He instead offered a resolution that would have been binding only in the Senate and would not require House approval.
Heinrich, the ranking member of the legislature branch appropriations subcommittee, objected to Thune’s offer, saying the law itself needs to be changed and that both parties should keep talking about addressing the retroactivity of the provision.
“Frankly, this is just outrageous to me,” said Heinrich. “This is at the exact same time as 22 million Americans could see their health insurance premiums skyrocket because Republicans refuse to extend the [Affordable Care Act] tax credits.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was among the lawmakers Smith subpoenaed, objected to Heinrich’s unanimous consent request and made clear he wasn’t interested in anything that would prevent him from filing a lawsuit.
“What did we do to justify having Jack Smith issue a subpoena for the phone records of a branch of government — the Senate — where all of us had to decide whether or not to certify the election?” Graham asked on the Senate floor. “We’re not going to let the Democratic Party decide my fate. We’re going to let a judge decide my fate.”
Graham also thanked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who negotiated the language with Thune. Schumer told reporters yesterday he supported a repeal.
Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
Rep. Max Miller issued a subpoena to his former father-in-law and fellow Ohio Republican, Sen. Bernie Moreno, in the latest escalation of a long-running family legal drama.
Pamela MacAdams, an attorney for Miller, reported to the Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court Monday that three subpoenas were served in Miller’s divorce case, according to court records. A person with knowledge of the subpoenas granted anonymity to comment on them said that two were sent to Moreno and his wife, Bridget.
Their daughter, Emily Moreno, was married to Miller, and the two remain embroiled in a nasty legal battle.
Spokespeople for Miller, Emily Moreno and Bernie Moreno did not immediately return requests for comment. TMZ first reported on the subpoenas.
Miller is seeking reelection in a competitive district, and his campaign has been marred by accusations of domestic abuse against Emily Moreno and their daughter. Miller has repeatedly denied the allegations and chose to remain in the race despite other Republican lawmakers pressuring him to withdraw his campaign.
The House Ethics Committee, which began an inquiry into Miller after Miller asked to be investigated, is currently in a preelection blackout period. During that period, which will continue through the midterms, the Ethics Committee doesn’t take any action against sitting members who could return next Congress.
Congress
Trump declares $1B canceled in ‘pocket rescission’ in another affront to Congress’ funding power
President Donald Trump informed congressional leaders Friday that he has unilaterally canceled almost $1 billion without Congress’ consent — employing a budget maneuver many lawmakers consider illegal.
In a move that will almost certainly set up an ugly government funding battle after the midterms, Trump has again claimed the power to execute a so-called “pocket rescission” to nix money Congress has already enacted. The money his administration will claw back is for for immigration services, support to foreign countries, education programs, health research efforts and assistance for businesses owned by minorities.
By law, the president is allowed to send Congress a request to rescind federal funding, then withhold that money for 45 days while lawmakers consider whether to approve, reject or ignore it. Trump administration officials also argue they have the power to cancel funding without any congressional action by sending Congress a rescission request with less than 45 days left in the fiscal year. The argument is that the money automatically gets canceled on Sept. 30, when funding lapses at the end of the fiscal year.
Last year, Trump canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid.
The Senate’s top Republican appropriator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, immediately blasted the move as illegal, saying in a statement Friday night that “any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”
“This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law,” Collins added, pledging to work with other lawmakers “to address these illegal actions.”
Collins and other appropriators have already been on high alert in recent days, pressing multiple agencies about funding officials have yet to spend ahead of the expiration date.
Democrats are finally catching on to how to talk to young male voters in the lead-up to the midterms, but the party can still up its game, one battleground senator and potential 2028er said Friday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has been one of his party’s most outspoken critics on its handling of outreach to young men, who swung right and helped deliver the White House and both chambers of Congress to Republicans in 2024.
The party is now “definitely moving in the right direction,” Gallego said Friday.
“Like back in the day, I was like the only one,” putting out positions on men, Gallego said at a Washington event on young American men. “Now, like, it seems like everyone every week is coming out with a new position, new idea, which is great.”
Gallego has criticized Democrat’s failure to highlight mens’ struggles and their tendency to over-police mens’ ideas. But there are signs the political winds have shifted in his party’s favor.
A new Cygnal poll released with the event of men ages 18-30 who say they’re the most determined to vote revealed Democrats’ generic ballot lead over Republicans at 57%-40%, Blue Light News reported. The poll also said nearly 40 percent of respondents said they feel their lives are off track.
“We need to take the opportunity to invest in that portion of this country, to say that we care about them and actually try to change the trajectory of what’s happening with men in this country,” Gallego said at the symposium.
Still, the path for specific legislation targeting the needs of this demographic faces an incredibly tight calendar this Congress and is uncertain in the political landscape of next year.
A proposal from Gallego and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) to establish a men’s health office within the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, has not advanced. Nor has bipartisan legislation from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also spoke at the event, targeting education outcomes, college investment transparency and dyslexic student support.
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