The GOP's biggest shutdown hurdles

Politico

5 days ago

IN TODAY'S EDITION:— Dems seek government funding game plan— Thune wrestles with August recess debate — GOP eyes bipartisan health package
It's a pivotal week for the appropriations process as Congress looks to pass twelve spending bills before the Sept. 30 shutdown cliff.
Expect the Senate to work on passing its first batch of bills over the next few days, with full committee markups continuing in both chambers. In the House, appropriators plan to have a subcommittee markup of the bill funding the Treasury Department, the Judiciary and IRS tonight. No funding measures are currently on the House floor schedule.
Here's what to watch as Republicans navigate the hurdles that could force them toward another stopgap funding bill.
DEM WATCH — All eyes are going to be on Democrats as they discuss whether to use the one point of leverage they have: the 60 votes needed to pass appropriations bills in the Senate. But Democrats don't appear to have a solidified plan yet, Jennifer Scholtes, Nicholas Wu and Katherine Tully-McManus report this morning.
White House Budget Director Russ Vought last week said point-blank he was satisfied to see a less bipartisan appropriations process than in years past, a comment that could embolden congressional Republicans who want to put their conservative mark on the appropriations process.
Democrats have voiced their disapproval with the trajectory of government funding negotiations, specifically with Trump officials and their Hill allies for freezing, canceling and now clawing back funding Congress already approved. So far, however, they have stopped short of threatening a government shutdown on Oct.1 if Republicans don't change course.
It was a dilemma Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer faced back in March. He ultimately faced significant heat from his base over his decision that the consequences of a shutdown would be worse than letting the Trump administration continue to run roughshod over Congress' 'power of the purse.'
'To be blunt, I don't think there's one tactic or approach that is going to solve this from any individual Democrat,' Sen. Brian Schatz, a top appropriator, said in an interview. 'The Republicans have to decide whether they want to be totally lobotomized or not.'
AUGUST RECESS — Senate Majority Leader John Thune was already considering making a dent in the government funding process before the month-long August break. Now, President Donald Trump is calling on the Senate to stay through the recess to continue confirming his nominees, which would give Thune an opportunity to get more work done on appropriations, too.
Not everyone wants that. Many Republican lawmakers are eager to get back to their districts for the state work period to highlight wins from the GOP megabill — and provide counterprogramming to Democratic messaging about the deep Medicaid cuts in the new law. That summer sales pitch is a top priority for many senators.
FREEDOM CAUCUS — Then, there's the Freedom Caucus, which has been known to swoop in at the eleventh hour to undermine carefully-constructed legislative dealmaking with hard-line demands. French Hill and G.T. Thompson — chairs of the Financial Services and Agriculture panels, respectively — got a strong taste of that tactic while attempting to pass cryptocurrency bills last week.
'It is an operational change from how Congress has historically operated, where, if the Chairman and the committee blessed it, everybody just said, 'okay,'' said Freedom Caucus member Rep. Byron Donalds to reporters in the middle of last week's crypto drama. 'That's just not the way Congress is working anymore.'
The group has notoriously forced House Republicans to rely on Democrats to shore up the necessary votes to pass government funding bills. If the faction's hard-liners once again insist on lowering spending levels or inserting conservative policy riders in this year's appropriations bills, that could prove to be a problem for Republicans — and put even more pressure on House Democrats to decide if they're going to bail out the GOP or force a shutdown.
GOOD MONDAY MORNING. And if you're not ready to move away from the megabill just yet, check out this interactive on how the extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts ballooned the cost of the bill.
Email your Inside Congress crew at [e-mail], [e-mail] and [e-mail]. Follow our live coverage at politico.com/congress.
WHAT WE'RE WATCHINGWith help from Jordan Williams
The House will vote on legislation including bills that would establish ZIP codes for certain communities and require a study examining the U.S.' exposure to the Chinese financial sector at 6:30 p.m.
The Senate will vote to move forward on Terrance Cole's nomination to be DEA administrator at 5:30 p.m.
— House Rules will meet to pave the way for floor consideration of an immigration bill, water permitting bill and three Congressional Review Act resolutions at 4 p.m.
— House Appropriations will have a subcommittee markup of the fiscal 2026 Financial Services-General Government appropriations bill at 5:30 p.m.
— Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers will hold private meetings shortly before evening votes.
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THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Steering to make its Homeland chair pick
Members of the House GOP Steering panel will make their recommendation for a new Homeland Security chair this evening to fill the vacancy to be left by Chair Mark Green once he resigns from Congress.
Up for consideration: Reps. Carlos Giménez of Florida, Michael Guest of Mississippi, Andrew Garbarino of New York and Clay Higgins of Louisiana.
Higgins, the most senior member, and Guest both emphasize their years of service on Homeland, while Giménez touts his 'boots-on-the-ground, real world experiences' having held a series of elected offices in Florida before his election to Congress. Garbarino points to his credentials in cybersecurity policy, over which the panel has some jurisdiction.
Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP leaders have met with each of the candidates in recent days but it's not yet clear who is the favorite, Meredith Lee Hill reports.
Higgins said he met with fellow Louisianans Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise last week in the speaker's office to discuss the Homeland race and what immigration policies might be included in a second party-line megabill.
Jeffries open to Democratic redistricting
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN Saturday that 'all options are on the table' for whether he'd support plans like those of California Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw his state's congressional map, which would benefit Democrats, in response to the GOP's redistricting plan in Texas.
Yet while Jeffries attacks Republicans' mid-decade redistricting strategy as 'unprecedented,' he said Democrats responding in-kind wouldn't be the same thing: 'Republicans have a three seat majority right now and they wouldn't even be in the majority if it wasn't for the fact that they gerrymandered the map in North Carolina.'
The Texas state legislature is set to convene today for its special session in which it will attempt to make changes to its congressional map to ensure Republican victories in more districts. It's a plan with support from the president and other Republican leaders.
'Just a simple redrawing, we pick up five seats,' Trump told reporters last week of redrawing in Texas.
Still no Jeffries nod for Mamdani
Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old self-described Democratic socialist who won the Democratic primary for NYC mayor, met Jeffries Friday in Brooklyn for their first face-to-face conversation. Mamdani arrived seeking an endorsement and left about an hour later with only the promise of another meeting, Emily Ngo and Nicholas report.
Mamdani — with his new and evolving role in the Democratic Party — has become a political target for the right. Thune told Fox News on Sunday that Mamdani's election victory was the latest sign of Democrats' move to the 'far left.'
'That mayoral election in New York is probably the best indication of this shift towards socialism, communism or whatever you want to call it,' Thune said. 'These people are moving far left.'
POLICY RUNDOWN
GOP HOPES FOR BIPARTISAN HEALTH PACKAGE — Republican lawmakers are looking to revisit a long-stalled bipartisan health package before the end of the year, but Democrats are making it clear they think Republicans might have poisoned the well by plowing ahead with their party-line rescissions bill and megabill Medicaid cuts, Benjamin reports this morning.
Democrats, however, are dangling one possible sweetener that could get them to the negotiating table: Republicans going along with an extension of Obamacare premium tax credits due to expire Dec. 31. Democrats badly want to make these subsidies permanent. But that would be a tough swallow for the House GOP, since permanence would cost around $383 billion. Still, some Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, like Sen. Steve Daines, appear increasingly aware that the credits will have to be considered. 'I think that is something that is going to have to be part of the discussion here to get to 60 votes,' he told Benjamin last week.
The health package, which was on track for passage last December as part of a year-end spending deal before being derailed by Trump and Elon Musk, would also include an overhaul to the drug intermediaries known as pharmaceutical benefit managers. House Ways and Means is also eyeing for inclusion legislation by Rep. Mike Kelly that would allow weight loss drugs for treatment of obesity to qualify for Medicare.
FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: GRASSLEY PUSHES RETAIL THEFT BILL — Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley will blast out a new video campaign today pushing his bipartisan retail theft legislation. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, Mark Warner and Kristen Gillibrand recently signed onto the legislation, bringing the total number of Democratic co-sponsors to eight. Assuming the GOP bands together on the proposal, that would be enough to break through the chamber's filibuster.
The video features speakers including David Glawe, president and CEO of the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and Summer Stephan, San Diego County District Attorney, testifying to a surge in sophisticated retail theft over the past several years. Glawe notes, for instance, that the cargo industry experienced $1 billion in losses in 2023.
The legislation would, among other things, establish a new entity within the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate federal law enforcement's ability to crack down on retail crime.
HOUSE GOP TURNS TO IMMIGRATION AGENDA — Now that they've passed their sweeping domestic policy bill that would turbocharge border enforcement activities, House Republicans are turning to legislation that would further crack down on illegal immigration.
The House is set to take up legislation this week sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Bice that would increase penalties on immigrants who illegally enter the country and then reenter the U.S. after being removed. It comes as House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan signaled last week that he'd like to revive his sweeping immigration overhaul legislation from the previous Congress, which would set a new minimum of active-duty agents under U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and that he's in active talks with the White House about best ways to proceed.
Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
CAMPAIGN STOP
TEXAS DEM DARK HORSE? — James Talarico, a Democratic Texas state representative, is weighing a bid for the U.S. Senate. The 36-year-old aspiring preacher gained nearly 1 million TikTok followers with videos centering on the intersection of his Christian faith and politics.
On his way out of podcasting with Joe Rogan in Austin, Texas, Talarico talked with Adam Wren for POLITICO Magazine about how his party could win over more white Evangelicals, what national Democrats get wrong about Texas and how Democrats could win the state in 2026 and beyond.
CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE
BUTLER HEADS TO OPENAI — Former Sen. Laphonza Butler is a new adviser for OpenAI, people familiar with the contract told Christine Mui. It's the California Democrat's first known client since leaving the Hill and landing at Actum, a global public affairs firm.
JOB BOARD
Kara Lynum has launched KML Strategies, a law firm helping other firms, organizations and individuals navigate immigration policy changes. Lynum is a Senate Judiciary alum.
THE BEST OF THE REST
As Trump pushes Texas takeover in fight for House, Democrats plot their counterpunch, from Manu Raju and Sarah Ferris at CNN
$10,000 stolen from Speaker Mike Johnson's campaign committee, from Dave Levinthal at Open Secrets
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Sen. John Barrasso … Rep. Jim Clyburn … former Reps. Cori Bush, Phil Roe (8-0), Jimmy Duncan, Ed Towns (91), John Salazar and Bobby Bright … Fox News' Peter Doocy … Mick Mulvaney … CNN's Mark Preston … David Stacy … Google's Ali-Jae Henke … SoftBank's Christin Tinsworth Baker … Katherine Schneider … Jahan Wilcox … Government Publishing Office's Hugh Halpern … John Negroponte … former Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (7-0) … Meta's Ritika Robertson … Elizabeth Myers of the Congressional Research Service
TRIVIA
FRIDAY'S ANSWER: This one stumped y'all. Of the 32 GOP incumbents on Democrats' 2026 target list, 25 raised more than $700,000 and of the 25 Democrats on the NRCC's target list, 11 raised that amount.
TODAY'S QUESTION, from Ben Jacobs: Trump spent Sunday on Truth Social demanding that the Washington Commanders revert to their previous name of the Washington Redskins and threatening to hold up a stadium deal in D.C. for the football team if the name is not changed. Which former member of Congress was a first round draft pick of Washington's football team back when they were the Redskins?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to [e-mail].