
Senate Finance unveils committee's portion of GOP megabill
Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo on Monday unveiled changes to how the GOP's 'big, beautiful bill' would execute a major tax revamp and Medicaid cuts — two of the thorniest policy fights in the sweeping legislation.
The release comes after closed-door negotiations between Crapo and his colleagues over how to the version of the megabill mmigration, energy and defense legislation approved late last month by the House.
Senate Republicans are under pressure to make minimal changes, given their party's thin hold of the other chamber. But that could be difficult for some senators eager to put their own imprint on the legislation, and who have long viewed House tax bills as little more than first drafts in need of heavy editing.
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San Francisco Chronicle
29 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Congress is holding emergency briefings on security after Minnesota shootings
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of Congress will attend emergency briefings this week after the murder of a Minnesota state lawmaker brought renewed fears — and stoked existing partisan tensions — over the security of federal lawmakers when in Washington and at home. The suspect in the attack had dozens of federal lawmakers listed in his writings, in addition to the state lawmakers and others he allegedly targeted. The man is accused of shooting and killing former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs and wounding another lawmaker and his wife at their home. The shootings come after credible threats to members of Congress have more than doubled in the last decade, the troubling tally of an era that has been marked by a string of violent attacks against lawmakers and their families. In 2011, Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot and wounded at an event in her Arizona district. In 2017, Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was shot and wounded as he practiced for a congressional baseball game with other GOP lawmakers near Washington. In 2022, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul was attacked in his home by a man who broke into their San Francisco home. And in 2024, two different men tried to assassinate Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. All four survived, some with serious injuries. But those attacks, among others and many close calls for members of both parties, have rattled lawmakers and raised recurring questions about whether they have enough security — and whether they can ever be truly safe in their jobs. 'I don't have a solution to this problem right now,' said Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, a friend of Hortman's who received increased security after the attack. 'I just see so clearly that this current state of play is not sustainable.' Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said lawmakers are 'clearly at the point where we have to adjust the options available to us.' The U.S. Capitol Police's threat assessment section investigated 9,474 'concerning statements and direct threats' against members of Congress last year, the highest number since 2021, the year that the Capitol was attacked by Trump's supporters after he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat. In 2017, there were 3,939 investigated threats, the Capitol Police said. While members of Congress may be high-profile, they do have some resources available that might not be available to state and local lawmakers, said Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who was a member of the South Dakota state Senate for 10 years before he was the state's governor. In the state legislature, 'it just wasn't feasible all the time' to have increased security, Rounds said. As threats have increased, members of Congress have had access to new funding to add security at their personal homes. But it is unclear how many have used it and whether there is enough money to keep lawmakers truly safe. 'Resources should not be the reason that a U.S. senator or congressman gets killed,' Murphy said. Instead of bringing lawmakers together, the Minnesota shootings have created new internal tensions. Smith on Monday confronted one of her fellow senators, Utah Republican Mike Lee, for a series of posts on X over the weekend. One mocked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who ran for vice president last year. Another post said of the murders, 'This is what happens when Marxists don't get their way.' Friends and former colleagues interviewed by The Associated Press described Vance Luther Boelter, the man accused of assassinating Hortman and her husband, as a devout Christian who attended an evangelical church and went to campaign rallies for Trump. Records show Boelter registered to vote as a Republican while living in Oklahoma in 2004 before moving to Minnesota, where voters don't list party affiliation. Smith talked to Lee outside a GOP conference meeting as soon as she arrived in Washington on Monday. 'I would say he seemed surprised to be confronted,' she told reporters afterward. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also called out Lee's posts on the Senate floor, saying that for him to 'fan the flames of division with falsities, while the killer was still on the loose, is deeply irresponsible. He should take his posts down and immediately apologize to the families of the victims.' Lee's office did not respond to a request for comment. Lawmakers were already on edge before the shootings, which came less than two days after Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a press conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in California. Officers restrained Padilla and put him on the ground. Angry Democratic senators immediately took to the Senate floor Thursday afternoon to denounce Padilla's treatment. 'What was really hard for me to see was that a member of this body was driven to his knees and made to kneel before authorities,' said New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. 'This is a test. This is a crossroads.' At the briefing Tuesday, Senate Democrats say they plan to ask security officials, as well as Republican leadership, about Padilla's removal from the press conference as well as their protection against outside threats. 'I certainly hope to hear leadership responding in a profound way,' said New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, a Democrat. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who said she had been informed that her name was also on the suspect's list, said she wanted to hear recommendations at the briefing on how to improve security. 'And we can take those recommendations,' Baldwin said. 'But I think, both with the president and his administration and with members of Congress, that we need to bring the temperature down. There's no place for political violence ever. And the rhetoric — words matter.'


San Francisco Chronicle
29 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Senate expected to pass crypto bill without addressing Trump's investments
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is expected to approve legislation Tuesday that would regulate a form of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins, the first of what is expected to be a wave of crypto legislation from Congress that the industry hopes will bolster its legitimacy and reassure consumers. The fast-moving legislation, which will be sent to the House for potential revisions, comes on the heels of a 2024 campaign cycle where the crypto industry ranked among the top political spenders in the country, underscoring its growing influence in Washington and beyond. Eighteen Democratic senators have shown support for the legislation as it has advanced, siding with the Republican majority in the 53-47 Senate. If passed, it would become the second major bipartisan bill to advance through the Senate this year, following the Laken Riley Act on immigration enforcement in January. Still, most Democrats oppose the bill. They have raised concerns that the measure does little to address President Donald Trump's personal financial interests in the crypto space. 'We weren't able to include certainly everything we would have wanted, but it was a good bipartisan effort," said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., on Monday. She added, 'This is an unregulated area that will now be regulated.' Known as the GENIUS Act, the bill would establish guardrails and consumer protections for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency typically pegged to the U.S. dollar. The acronym stands for 'Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins.' It's expected to pass Tuesday, since it only requires a simple majority vote — and it already cleared its biggest procedural hurdle last week in a 68-30 vote. But the bill has faced more resistance than initially expected. There is a provision in the bill that bans members of Congress and their families from profiting off stablecoins. But that prohibition does not extend to the president and his family, even as Trump builds a crypto empire from the White House. Trump hosted a private dinner last month at his golf club with top investors in a Trump-branded meme coin. His family holds a large stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that provides yet another avenue where investors are buying in and enriching the president's relatives. World Liberty has launched its own stablecoin, USD1. The administration is broadly supportive of crypto's growth and its integration into the economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week said the legislation could help push the U.S. stablecoin market beyond $2 trillion by the end of 2028. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase — the nation's largest crypto exchange and a major advocate for the bill — has met with Trump and praised his early moves on crypto. This past weekend, Coinbase was among the more prominent brands that sponsored a parade in Washington commemorating the Army's 250th anniversary — an event that coincided with Trump's 79th birthday. But the crypto industry emphasizes that they view the legislative effort as bipartisan, pointing to champions on each side of the aisle. 'The GENIUS Act will be the most significant digital assets legislation ever to pass the U.S. Senate,' Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, R-S.C., said ahead of a key vote last week. 'It's the product of months of bipartisan work.' The bill did hit one rough patch in early May, when a bloc of Senate Democrats who had previously supported the bill reversed course and voted to block it from advancing. That prompted new negotiations involving Senate Republicans, Democrats and the White House, which ultimately produced the compromise version expected to win passage Tuesday. 'There were many, many changes that were made. And ultimately, it's a much better deal because we were all at the table,' Alsobrooks said. Still, the bill leaves unresolved concerns over presidential conflicts of interest — an issue that remains a source of tension within the Democratic caucus. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been among the most outspoken as the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, warning that the bill creates a 'super highway' for Trump corruption. She has also warned that the bill would allow major technology companies, such as Amazon and Meta, to launch their own stablecoins. If the stablecoin legislation passes the Senate on Tuesday, it still faces several hurdles before reaching the president's desk. It must clear the narrowly held Republican majority in the House, where lawmakers may try to attach a broader market structure bill — sweeping legislation that could make passage through the Senate more difficult. Trump has said he wants stablecoin legislation on his desk before Congress breaks for its August recess, now just under 50 days away.


CNN
31 minutes ago
- CNN
Sen. Smith reveals what she told Sen. Lee over post
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) revealed to Kaitlan Collins what she told Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) over his viral post on Minnesota killings.