Members clash over increasing their own security

Politico

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IN TODAY'S EDITION:— Lawmakers debate personal safety resources— Thune's slippery megabill timeline— GOP holds first hearing on Biden's decline
Lawmakers confronting a rise in political violence are grappling over whether to use more tax dollars for their own protection, even as Republicans search for deep cuts across the federal government.
That question will be tested next week, when the House Legislative Branch appropriations bill funding the operations of Capitol Hill gets marked up, Katherine and Nicholas Wu report.
Top congressional Democrats are pushing for more money for both Capitol Police and for a program that provides funding for lawmakers' personal security after the weekend shootings of state lawmakers in Minnesota. Some Republicans are also calling for a funding boost.
Only a select few leaders in each chamber have 24/7 security, while rank-and-file members have little day-to-day protection unless they've been deemed to be under an active threat. Some members, like Rep. Tim Burchett, want more widespread coverage.
There's one problem: Some lawmakers have been reticent to take advantage of the resources that are already on offer. They can use official office funds to buy security equipment and take advantage of a program providing security upgrades for lawmakers' primary residences. Capitol Police also offer to coordinate some in-district events with state and local police departments.
But while more than half of House lawmakers last year participated in the home security program, hundreds of thousands of dollars in security resources were left unspent, with those not enrolled citing either lack of interest or a feeling that the paperwork and approval process was too burdensome, according to two people familiar with the initiative.
Others are simply wary of additional safety measures that would restrict their freedom of movement and interactions with the public (not to mention intrude on family life).
'I don't want to have security on me. I'm a very private person. I like to go outside and be by myself,' said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that funds Capitol Police.
Even so, the Capitol security budget could grow to new heights. The USCP budget request for fiscal 2026 is $967.8 million — a 22 percent boost over current levels. With lawmakers now calling for even beefier security post-Minnesota, the budget for the relatively small force could soon top $1 billion.
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THE SKED
The House is out.
The Senate is in session and will vote to end debate on Rodney Scott's nomination to be commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and on the confirmation of Olivia Trusty to be a member of the FCC at noon. The Senate will vote on Scott's confirmation at 1:45 p.m.
— Armed Services will have a hearing on the president's fiscal 2026 budget request for the Defense Department with testimony from Secretary Pete Hegseth at 9:30 a.m.
— Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will have a news conference on the tax portion of the GOP megabill at 10 a.m.
— Judiciary will have a hearing on the 'Biden cover-up' with testimony from former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer at 10:15 a.m.
— Foreign Relations will vote on various nominations, including Andrew Puzder to be ambassador to the EU and Howard Brodie to be ambassador to Finland, then have a hearing on the 2025 NATO Summit at 10:30 a.m.
— Commerce will have a subcommittee hearing on modernizing America's railroad network with testimony from Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ian Jefferies at 10 a.m.
— Energy and Natural Resources will have a hearing on the president's fiscal 2026 budget request for the Energy Department with testimony from Secretary Chris Wright at 10 a.m.
— HELP will have a hearing on various nominations, including former Rep. Anthony D'Esposito to be inspector general for the Labor Department and Andrea Lucas to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member at 10 a.m.
— Appropriations will have a subcommittee hearing on the president's fiscal 2026 budget request for the Army, with testimony from Secretary Daniel Driscoll at 10:30 a.m.
— Intel will have a closed door hearing at 2:30 p.m.
The rest of the week: The Senate and House are out of session and will return Monday.
THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Thune's slippery megabill timeline
Rank-and-file Republican senators' revolt over GOP leaders' megabill changes is threatening to derail Senate Majority Leader John Thune's goal to pass it next week, Benjamin Guggenheim and Jordain Carney report.
Even as the White House pushes to get the bill to Trump's desk by Independence Day, Vice President JD Vance told Senate Republicans Tuesday the ultimate deadline to get it to Trump's desk is the August recess.
If all goes well, Republicans would quickly wrap up parliamentarian work this week and have a draft of the full bill by Monday. GOP senators and aides are tentatively preparing for an initial procedural vote next Wednesday or Thursday, which would set up final passage that weekend. But that depends on leaders striking deals on key policy disputes; Sen. Ron Johnson predicted if the bill is brought to the floor next week in its current state, 'it will fail.'
Chief among the disputes: Hospital executives are joining 'Medicaid moderates' in digging in against Senate Finance's proposed overhaul of the health care program, even as Trump dispatched Vance and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to the Hill Tuesday to allay senators' concerns. Oz argued that lowering the cap on state provider taxes — which the House wants to freeze and the Senate wants to reduce to 3.5 percent from 6 percent — won't 'influence the ability of hospitals to stay viable.' Thune backed him up, casting the Senate's proposed Medicaid changes as 'important reforms.'
But Sen. Josh Hawley, who's alarmed about the potential impact to rural hospitals, isn't backing down. He spoke with Trump about the Medicaid changes Tuesday and skipped GOP senators' lunch with Vance and Oz, dismissing the latter as 'not a decision-maker.' Vance met Monday with another senator with Medicaid concerns, Susan Collins, though they both declined to share details of the chat.
Another problem for Thune: Several GOP senators are seeking to further soften Finance's proposed rollback of clean energy credits, aiming to give more time for hydrogen and solar power to qualify for the federal incentives in Democrats' 2022 climate law, our Josh Siegel and Kelsey Tamborrino report. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, Jim Justice and Bill Cassidy expressed surprise Tuesday about the committee's harsh treatment of the hydrogen credit.
Johnson confronts dueling Iran resolutions
Dueling bipartisan resolutions over the worsening Israel-Iran conflict are giving Speaker Mike Johnson some wiggle room on a politically thorny issue. Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna introduced a privileged war powers resolution that would block U.S. involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran. But Reps. Brad Sherman and Claudia Tenney introduced a competing resolution Tuesday that would reaffirm U.S. support for Israel's strikes.
Sherman and Tenney's resolution gives Johnson an alternative to Khanna and Massie's attempt to force a vote on Trump's war powers. Republican leaders could also move to short-circuit Khanna and Massie's effort in House Rules, as they did with Democratic efforts to reverse Trump's global tariffs.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, Tim Kaine is looking to force a floor vote on his own privileged resolution barring U.S. involvement in Iran as soon as June 25, he told our Joe Gould. Asked Tuesday whether he supports it, Schumer hedged: 'I believe Congress and Senate Democrats, if necessary, will not hesitate to exercise our authority.' But Sen. John Fetterman, a staunch Israel supporter, said he'd oppose it outright.
Kaine is still looking for Republican support. One prospect, Sen. Rand Paul, was noncommittal Tuesday. Hawley, a non-interventionist who discussed the conflict with Trump on Tuesday, said he won't back Kaine's resolution because 'I don't think the president needs pre-clearance to do one-off military strikes.'
POLICY RUNDOWN
FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: PAYGO FLY A KITE — Democrats in both chambers have issued warnings about automatic cuts to Medicare as part of their messaging fight against Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill.' Now Senate Republicans are pushing back.
A new letter from CBO Director Phillip Swagel sent Tuesday in response to questions from Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham casts doubts on whether the megabill would actually trigger 'sequestration' under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act.
'Since enactment in 2010, sequestration has not been triggered under S-PAYGO,' Swagel wrote in the letter obtained by POLITICO.
S-PAYGO was meant to impose budget discipline, but Congress has never let cuts under the law go into effect — usually by using creative math to exclude the deficit effects from the 'scorecard' or simply acting to exclude or delay the effects. Neither the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (passed by Republicans) nor 2021 American Rescue Plan (passed by Democrats) resulted in automatic cuts despite large increases in the federal deficit.
CRYPTO HEADS TO THE HOUSE — The Senate passed landmark cryptocurrency legislation in a bipartisan vote Tuesday after months of negotiations, delivering a major win for Trump and industry lobbyists, our Jasper Goodman reports. But the bill that would establish the first U.S. regulatory framework for stablecoins faces an uncertain fate in the House, where Republicans are weighing changes and considering packaging it with a broader measure to divvy up regulation of digital assets between market regulators. That could be more difficult to advance in the Senate due to its complexity.
Democrats who battled the stablecoin bill in the Senate aren't dropping their resistance. They believe the legislation doesn't do enough to safeguard national security, protect consumers or crack down on Trump and his family's conflicts of interest with the industry. Sen. Elizabeth Warren told Lisa it's 'likely there will be significant changes' in the House so 'this is just step one in a long process.'
SENATORS DIG IN ON RESCISSIONS — Republicans will hold a hearing next Wednesday on the White House's rescissions package, our Jennifer Scholtes reports. Collins, the Senate's top appropriator, told Jennifer she wants 'an in-depth hearing so that everybody knows exactly what is proposed and what the justification is.' OMB Director Russ Vought will testify, our Sophia Cai reports.
The package — which asks Congress to rescind over $9 billion in previously appropriated money — narrowly passed the House last week. But senators have raised concerns about clawing back money for public media and specific foreign aid programs such as PEPFAR (a core issue for Collins).
Sen. Mike Rounds told Calen Tuesday he wants to 'handle the public radio issues on our Native American reservations' and 'see what we can do to retain PEPFAR.' Sen. Dan Sullivan said he's considering an amendment 'that could help very rural stations without funding the left-wing NPR content.'
Collins is deferring to GOP leadership on a markup. Congress has until July 18 to act on the rescissions request or the appropriated money goes out the door.
REPUBLICANS PROBE BIDEN 'COVER-UP' — Congressional Republicans will hold their first hearing today on President Joe Biden's mental decline, our Hailey Fuchs writes in.
No Biden associates will appear before the panel co-chaired by Sens. Eric Schmitt and John Cornyn. Instead, the hearing will include testimony from former Trump administration officials — including former press secretary Sean Spicer, who was there during the chaotic launch of Trump's first administration, and former deputy assistant to the president Theo Wold.
The committee's top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, plans to give an opening statement and immediately leave the hearing, a spokesperson said. Sens. Adam Schiff and Peter Welch told Calen Tuesday that they'd follow Durbin's lead.
THE MEGABILL'S SURPRISING DYNAMIC SCORE — The House-passed GOP megabill would add $2.8 trillion to the U.S. deficit over a decade when considering economic effects, the Congressional Budget Office estimated on Tuesday, Jennifer reports.
That's a surprise: Usually the 'dynamic' score for tax-cutting bills shows a lower fiscal impact due to the resulting growth. But this score came in higher than the $2.4 trillion increase the nonpartisan scorekeeper found in its prior analysis, thanks to higher interest rates spiking debt service costs. Needless to say, this is complicating GOP efforts to play down the costs of the bill.
FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: DEM AGS ON THE HILL — Four Democratic attorneys general will testify to congressional Democrats on Monday about their litigation against the Trump administration in a so-called shadow hearing, Hailey writes in. It's the latest effort to elevate the party's efforts to thwart Trump's agenda in Washington, as the Democratic base demands a more aggressive confrontation with the White House.
Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts, Kwame Raoul of Illinois and Matthew J. Platkin of New Jersey will testify. Ellison is expected to speak about the political violence in his state after the shooting of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses.
Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
THE BEST OF THE REST
Democrats Preview a New Attack: Trump's Pardons Are Majorly Expensive, from Riley Rogerson at NOTUS
'A Direct Attack on Women': Lawmakers Demand Labor Secretary Preserve the Women's Bureau, from Julianne McShane at Mother Jones
CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE
Michael Marn is now a senior manager for federal affairs at the Computer and Communications Industry Association. He was previously a legislative assistant to Sen. Marsha Blackburn and a policy analyst for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
SPOTTED — Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman was in the Senate basement on Wednesday, Hailey writes in. The billionaire and GOP megadonor was a confidant to Trump during his first term and supported his 2024 presidential bid — after condemning the Capitol riot and calling for a peaceful transfer of power in 2021.
GOP GROUP DEFENDS IRA INCENTIVES — Built for America is pouring another $1.5 million into ads urging six Republican senators — Todd Young, Dave McCormick, Thom Tillis, Jerry Moran, John Cornyn and Finance Chair Mike Crapo — to preserve green credits under Democrats' 2022 climate law, POLITICO influence reports. The ads build on the group's initial $2 million buy targeting the president and his inner circle over Republicans' push to gut the incentives.
JOB BOARD
Lexi Hamel has been promoted to senior adviser for Rep. Mike Simpson. She continues as his comms director.
Grace Evans has been promoted to be comms director for Sen. Katie Britt.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Reps. Andy Ogles, Jenn Kiggans and Paul Tonko … former Rep. Jerry McNerney … former Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Mike Johanns … David Drucker … CNN's DJ Judd … Robert O'Brien … Axios' Nick Johnston … House's Kate Knudson … Will Kinzel … Narric Rome … Daniel Epstein … POLITICO's Isabel Delgado and Amber Ebersohl … Hattie Hobart of Nature Is Nonpartisan … Dina Powell McCormick … SKDK's Ajashu Thomas
TRIVIA
TUESDAY'S ANSWER: Joe Bookman correctly answered that John F. Kennedy was the first presidential candidate to appear on late night television when he joined Jack Paar's Tonight show.
TODAY'S QUESTION, from Mia: This past Sunday was Father's Day. Name the former member of Congress who is the only person to have been both the son and the father of a U.S. president.
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to [e-mail].