Playbook PM: Senate GOP sets up a big split over Medicaid

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THE CATCH-UP
BULLETIN: Federal prosecutors revealed shocking new details in the shooting over the weekend in Minnesota that killed a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband and injured others. The FBI said this morning that the alleged assailant, Vance Boelter, was being charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson disclosed at a news conference that Boelter traveled to the homes of two additional state lawmakers after shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman but before shooting state House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman. Neither house was occupied at the time, and Boelter — who was disguised as a police officer — actually encountered a local police officer who was conducting a wellness check at the third house before going to the Hortman's residence. More from CBS … Video of the news conference
THE TAXMAN COMETH: There's just over two weeks out from Republicans' July 4 deadline to deliver the sprawling reconciliation bill to President Donald Trump's desk, and Senate Republicans are working this week to get their ducks in a row.
The Senate Finance Committee huddled with large tax coalitions this morning ahead of the panel's expected release of its portion of the megabill, outlining amendments to the broad tax cuts set out in the House version, POLITICO's Benjamin Guggenheim reports.
As details of the briefings began to leak out, it appears Senate Republicans are set for a major departure from the House-passed bill to ratchet up savings from a politically explosive policy within Medicaid to pay for the megabill, and it's already setting off shockwaves through Capitol Hill, POLITICO's Meredith Lee Hill and colleagues report.
The devil in the details: 'The Senate Finance Committee's forthcoming portion of the party-line tax and spending package would lower the Medicaid provider tax to 3.5%,' splitting from the House version, which 'put a moratorium on states' ability to raise their provider tax beyond the current 6%.'
The view from K Street: Business leaders are trying to thwart the so-called revenge tax — a controversial provision in the bill that 'would punish companies based in countries that try to collect new taxes from American firms' — from making it in the final legislation, NYT's Alan Rappeport and Colby Smith report. 'Critics argue that the provision would chill foreign investment at a time when the Trump administration is trying to attract international money.'
Good Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at [e-mail].
7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. ISRAEL-IRAN LATEST: Tehran has requested that Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman push the White House to persuade Israel to accept an immediate truce with Iran in exchange for Tehran's flexibility in nuclear talks, per Reuters. As Israel and Iran ramped up their attacks in the last week, 'Gulf leaders and their top diplomats worked the phones all weekend' to find a way back to the negotiating table and avoid an all-out war.
One source tells Reuters that 'Iran is willing to be flexible in the nuclear talks if a ceasefire is reached.' Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian 'addressed Parliament today, noting how nuclear negotiations were disrupted by the strikes,' per NYT's Parin Behrooz. 'We were not the ones who abandoned the negotiating table,' he said in remarks carried by state media. 'We went and even began indirect negotiations — we were negotiating.''
On the ground: A major Iranian state television channel, IRINN, says it was attacked by Israel during a broadcast, per CNN's Mostafa Salem. 'A news anchor was live on air when loud explosions were heard and debris fell. … Images released after the event on state tv showed the glass building which houses IRINN, the national news channel, on fire with exteriors blown out.'
And global concerns continue to mount: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke with Trump via phone again today to stress 'preventing an uncontrolled escalation of tension between Israel and Iran,' per CBS' Jennifer Jacobs.
2. G7 UPDATES: Trump kicked off his first official day at this week's G7 summit with a meeting with Canadian PM Mark Carney. As the two delegations sat down to presumably talk trade, Trump said he was 'sure we can work something out' between the neighboring countries. 'Trump and Carney met for a total of 70 minutes Monday morning — including 30 minutes with no staff in the room,' per POLITICO's Nick Taylor-Vaisey.
On Russia: Trump told reporters gathered in the room ahead of the bilateral with Carney that it was a 'big mistake' that Russia got kicked out of the then-G8, per NBC's Megan Lebowitz. 'You spend so much time talking about Russia and [President Vladimir Putin] is no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated,' Trump added.
On the Middle East: Trump does not intend to sign a G7 statement on the Israel-Iran conflict, CBS' Jennifer Jacobs reports. The draft statement discusses 'monitoring Iran, calls for both sides to protect civilians, and reups commitments to peace,' Jacobs adds, and 'commits to safeguarding market stability, including energy markets, and says Israel has the right to defend itself,' per Reuters.
Also happening today: Trump added two 'informal chats' to his schedule: one with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British PM Keir Starmer, per Bloomberg's Josh Wingrove.
3. THE DOGE DAYS AREN'T OVER: Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency 'systematically built a false narrative of widespread fraud at the Social Security Administration based on misinterpreted data' in the first few months of Trump's presidency, NYT's Alexandra Berzon and colleagues report. Fixated on misreported data showing fraud at the agency, 'Musk's deputies became so intent on their work at Social Security that they pushed employees to continue giving them access to sensitive agency data even after a federal judge demanded that DOGE's access be cut off.'
A stunning anecdote: When Musk claimed at a Wisconsin rally in March that scammers made 40 percent of calls to the SSA's customer service line, employees at the agency knew that the claim was false and began drafting a response to correct it.
'That's when Leland Dudek — plucked from a midlevel job only six weeks earlier to run Social Security because of his willingness to cooperate with Mr. Musk's Department of Government Efficiency — got an angry call from the White House, according to several people familiar with the exchange. 'The number is 40 percent,' insisted Katie Miller, a top administration aide who was working closely with Mr. Musk, according to one of the people familiar with the April 1 call. President Trump believed Mr. Musk, she said. 'Do not contradict the president.''
4. ON THE BOOKS: The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, NYT's Tony Romm reports. The GAO announced today that the national library agency had 'ultimately 'ceased performing' its functions' after a March presidential directive slashed its funding in an alleged 'reduction of the federal bureaucracy.'
The GAO decision brings 'impoundment theory' to the forefront once again: 'Ethics officials ultimately classified the interruption in aid as an illegal impoundment, which is prohibited under a 1970s law meant to restrict the president and his ability to defy Congress on spending. … The White House maintains that those limits are unconstitutional.'
5. SCOTUS WATCH: The Supreme Court will hear a case surrounding a 'faith-based pregnancy center in New Jersey challenging a state investigation into whether it misled people into thinking its services included referrals for abortion,' AP's Lindsay Whitehurst reports. First Choice Women's Resource Centers is challenging a 2023 subpoena requesting information about donors, advertisements and medical personnel, alleging it violates its First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court also 'ordered a lower court to take a second look at a religious challenge to a New York state requirement that employers provide health care plans that include abortion coverage,' NBC's Lawrence Hurley writes.
6. WATCH THIS SPACE: 'Terrorism Threat Grows in West Africa as U.S. Turns Away,' by NYT's Elian Peltier: '[I]nsurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are moving south toward the Atlantic and into coastal nations such as Ivory Coast. … African and Western officials fear the advance will further destabilize West Africa at a time when the United States and European allies have drawn down their presence here, and the Trump administration has turned its attention to a chaotic deportation policy and travel ban that does not include any nations in the Sahel.'
7. CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?: The Trump Organization announced plans to launch a phone service known as 'Trump Mobile' and 'offer a U.S.-built smartphone later this summer,' WSJ's Patience Haggin reports. 'No major smartphone manufacturer currently makes its products in the U.S., as the displays, processors and cameras they use are mainly sourced from Asia.' The T1 model is intended to be a 'sleek, gold smartphone' that costs $499. 'The site details specifications for the device but doesn't disclose the manufacturer. The company said the wireless service's core '47 Plan' would be available for $47.45 a month.'
A large grain of salt: 'It seems utterly unfathomable that you could build a phone with this set of specs, at this price, to be delivered in September,' The Verge's David Pierce writes. 'Either Trump Mobile has done something truly remarkable here (and I'd bet you a T1 Phone 8002 that it hasn't), or the phone it ends up shipping will not be the one buyers are expecting.'
Also hitting the shelves: 'Home-goods companies prepare new Trump-linked products,' by Semafor's Shelby Talcott.
TALK OF THE TOWN
Terry Moran, who was ousted at ABC over his post tearing into Stephen Miller, tells NYT it 'wasn't a drunk tweet' and he stands by it. He also said ABC's characterization that it simply wasn't renewing his contract isn't true and that the network was 'bailing' on an 'oral agreement' to renew him for three years.
OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the launch of the U.S.-Israel Opera Initiative at the Kennedy Center last night, hosted by co-founders Danny Glaser and Antoun Sehnaoui and dedicated to Sarah Milgram and Yaron Lischinsky: the families of Milgram and Lischinsky, Morgan Ortagus, Joel Rayburn, Mike Jensen, Rudy Atallah, James Jeffrey, Stuart Jones, Stu Eizenstat, Anna Morris, Oubai Shahbandar, Elisa Ewers, Liz Hirsh Naftali, Yuval David, Robert Satloff, Mark Dubowitz, Howard Kohr, Elliot Brandt and Jay Solomon.
POLITICO NEWS — Sydney Trent and David Harrison are joining POLITICO. Trent will be deputy health care editor and previously has been authoring a book and is a WaPo and Miami Herald alum. Harrison will be deputy economics editor and currently is a senior writer and editor at the International Finance Corporation and is a Wall Street Journal and CQ Roll Call alum.
TRANSITIONS — Tashi Chogyal is now campaign manager for Dan Lee's congressional campaign in the Virginia special election. He previously was national Asian American engagement deputy director on the Harris campaign, and is an Obama campaign/administration alum. … Jalen Drummond is now VP of corporate affairs and international comms at Lockheed Martin he previously was head of global public affairs GoFundMe and is a Trump 45 alum. … Tom Quaadman will be chief government affairs and public policy officer at the Investment Company Institute. He previously has been EVP of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness.
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