GOP leaders rush into Musk damage control

Politico

06-06-2025

IN TODAY'S EDITION:— Johnson defends against Musk's attacks— Emmer's megabill confidence— Congress gets its rescissions deadline
Hill GOP leaders are in full-on damage control as they scramble to save their megabill — and themselves — from the blast radius of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's breakup.
But Musk doesn't seem interested in sparing any part of the GOP trifecta from his wrath on his way out of Washington. The president's new enemy attacked both Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune Thursday over the cost of the party's sweeping domestic policy package. Thune brushed it aside.
Johnson, however, is mounting a multi-front rebuttal as he aims to keep Musk from hurting the megabill's prospects, our Meredith Lee Hill reports. He's questioning the tech mogul's motives for opposing the bill and challenging his claims about its impact on the deficit. Johnson already had to reassure hard-liners concerned about the bill's spending in order to squeeze the bill through the House last month.
'I'm the same guy that's always been a deficit hawk, and now I'm the speaker of the House, and I'm working on a multi-step plan to reverse the fiscal insanity that has haunted our country,' Johnson told reporters Thursday. 'We have to get the big, beautiful bill done.'
Johnson's leadership team quickly claimed Musk wouldn't rattle their members. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise insisted it hadn't moved any votes. And Whip Tom Emmer, in an exclusive interview with Mia (more on that below), said he's not tracking Musk's onslaught on X.
'Sorry,' Emmer said, 'he's not on my phone.'
Some fiscal hard-liners — who share in Musk's concerns about the bill but allowed it to pass the House — avoided immediately picking sides in the feud. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, bombarded with questions about Musk on Thursday, said only that he's 'right on the deficit.' Sen. Mike Lee posted on X: 'But … I really like both of them.'
They may not have to choose. Signs of a détente emerged late Thursday, with Trump brushing off the clash in a phone call with our Dasha Burns and Musk seeming somewhat open to a reconciliation (just not the reconciliation bill). White House aides are working to broker peace.
Still, if the Trump-Musk divorce goes through, MAGA will side with the president, our Rachael Bade predicts in her latest Corridors column. There were signs Thursday that Musk was alienating some of Trump's biggest Hill boosters.
'Elon is getting too personal. It's getting out of control,' Rep. Troy Nehls told Mia. 'Some of the most recent comments, I think: Elon, you've lost your mind.'
Coming up in today's Playbook: Musk bankrolled the GOP back to power in Washington. Now his financial firepower could break Republicans' trifecta — and imperil their legislative agenda after 2026.
TGIF. Follow our live coverage at the Inside Congress blog at politico.com/congress and email your Inside Congress scribes at [e-mail], [e-mail] and [e-mail].
THE SKED
The House is in session and voting on a bill that requires proof of citizenship to apply for SBA loans at 10:10 a.m.
— Financial Services will continue a hearing on digital assets at 9 a.m.
— Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will have his weekly press conference at 10:45 a.m.
The Senate is out.
Next week: The Senate will continue to take up Trump's nominations. The House is scheduled to take up Trump's rescissions package.
THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: Emmer projects confidence on Senate's megabill
Emmer isn't concerned about the GOP megabill's fate in the Senate, despite the current policy disputes. During an exclusive sitdown with Mia on Thursday, the House majority whip was bullish about getting the bill to Trump's desk by July 4.
'The Senate will do their work. They're going to send the bill back to us,' Emmer told Mia. 'We are going to pass it and send it to the president's desk. The time for talking is over.'
ON SALT — One thing Emmer said he hopes the Senate won't touch: the quadrupled state-and-local tax deduction cap carefully negotiated with blue-state Republicans in the House. Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo recently said there's little appetite among his members for keeping the increase fully intact. But Emmer said he believes the Senate understands the House's more difficult math.
'John Thune was quoted somewhere as saying, you know, 'We understand it's 51 over here and it's 218 over there.'' Emmer said. 'That should tell you everything you need to know.'
ON MEDICAID — Emmer said he believes senators who have raised concerns on the issue — specifically Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Josh Hawley — are 'going to be pleasantly surprised when they go through' the bill.
'A lot of their concerns that they thought they were going to have are just not there,' Emmer said, adding that 'there might be' tweaks, but no one has flagged any 'major problems' in the bill. Emmer said the only area he thinks there might be unease is about the provider tax.
ON CLEAN ENERGY — A key group of senators could hold up the bill over the repeal or scaling back of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean-energy tax provisions, which could disrupt projects in their states. But Emmer said that's something the House was concerned about as well.
'That's one of the reasons why the sunsetting is out at least three years, so that people can continue projects and repurpose them,' Emmer said. 'That was the whole concept. Whatever the Senate does with it, that's their business.'
Pros can read the rest of the Q&A with Emmer here.
Reconciliation 2.0 ... or 3.0?
Johnson has already floated the idea of a second reconciliation package. Now, he's hinting at a third.
'There may be a third one,' the speaker said Thursday, adding that 'we have to do it in the proper sequence.'
Emmer didn't wave off the idea of a second or third megabill to Mia on Thursday, but noted they should 'get the first one done.'
'All of it's possible,' Emmer said. 'Is it probable? We'll see.'
POLICY RUNDOWN
SCOOP: WICKER QUESTIONS ARMY PARADE — Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker told Lisa he 'would have recommended against' the Army's plan to hold a multimillion-dollar parade in D.C. on June 14, which is also Trump's birthday.
'On the other hand, the secretary feels that it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for thousands of young Americans to see what a great opportunity it is to participate in a great military force, that it will be a recruiting tool,' Wicker said. 'So, we'll see.'
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told lawmakers in a budget hearing Thursday that the parade could cost $25 million to $40 million. He was not able to provide an exact cost, he said, because the Army will also need to cover whatever damage its tanks do to Washington's streets.
Other GOP senators aren't happy with the price tag. Collins told Lisa she's 'glad that we're honoring the Army' but 'the cost does seem a bit steep.' Sen. Ron Johnson was blunt: 'If it costs money, I won't go.'
SCOOP: RESCISSIONS DEADLINE SET — Congress must act by July 18 on Trump's request to claw back $9.4 billion in funding or the White House will be required to spend the money, the Senate parliamentarian said.
If the House and Senate follow their current schedules, the 45-day clock on Trump's request will expire at midnight that day, people granted anonymity to discuss private guidance from the Senate's rule-keeper told our Jennifer Scholtes. Before that deadline, the House and Senate can vote to approve or reject Trump's request to nix $8.3 billion for foreign aid and $1.1 billion for public broadcasting.
TRUMP'S 'EITHER WAY' ON TAX PERMANENCE — Sen. Steve Daines, one of the chamber's tax writers, told our Benjamin Guggenheim Thursday that Trump was noncommittal during their White House meeting on whether his business tax incentives should be extended or made permanent.
'He said: 'I'm open to permanence. I'm open to kind of go either way, even on a five-year provision'' like what the House included in its version of the megabill, Daines said.
Daines told Benjamin he believes there's a consensus among Senate Finance Republicans for permanence, calling it a 'once-in-a-generation opportunity' for lasting tax reform.
ABOUT THOSE CLEAN ENERGY CREDITS — GOP senators who want to keep clean-energy credits under Democrats' 2022 climate law are expressing confidence that their chamber will ease off the harsh phaseouts in the House-passed megabill.
Sen. Thom Tillis told our Josh Siegel that 'every one of them is going to have some sort of an extension' from the sunset dates in the House bill. Murkowski told reporters Thursday she's also looking to ensure 'more reasonable' phaseout timelines.
'You can't have real dominance unless you have all aspects of energy,' Murkowski said. 'And it's not too much to say that 'all of the above' includes things still like wind and solar, and geothermal, and nuclear, and biofuels, and ocean energy.'
GOP SENATORS TO REWRITE AI FREEZE — Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz said Thursday his committee would attempt to rewrite the 10-year moratorium on enforcement of state and local artificial intelligence laws that the House tucked into their version of the megabill.
Several GOP senators expressed skepticism this week that the current language could clear the Senate's strict rules for what can be included in the filibuster-skirting reconciliation package.
Thune sounded supportive of the House measure Thursday, but conceded it was unclear if it could pass the Byrd test.
'The goal is to make sure that we aren't losing the race in AI and making sure that we have a policy that's consistent,' Thune said.
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TUNNEL TALK
SPOTTED — Laura Loomer was on the Hill on Thursday, waiting outside the House Judiciary room. She was trying to meet with Reps. Eric Swalwell and Jared Moskowitz, among other Democrats, to talk about designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, according to our John Sakellariadis.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Exclusive: New video shows tussle between Rep. Nadler staffer and federal officers, by Arya Sundaram at the Gothamist
Democrats Say Trump's New Travel Ban Won't Be as Central to Messaging as Last Time, by Torrence Banks at NOTUS
JOB BOARD
Melissa Burnison is now clerk for the Senate Appropriations Energy-Water Subcommittee. She previously was VP for federal legislative affairs at Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and is an Energy Department alum.
Christiana Nulty (née Reasor) has joined Thune's office as health policy adviser. She previously was director of federal affairs at Genentech and is a Jerry Moran and Lynn Jenkins alum.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Sen. Marsha Blackburn ... Reps. Madeleine Dean and Eugene Vindman (5-0) … Alexander Vindman (5-0) … former Reps. Eric Cantor, David Bonior (8-0) and Allen Boyd (8-0) … Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth … ABC's Katherine Faulders … Fabiana Corsi Mendez of Rep. Eugene Vindman's office … Ward Baker … Margaret White of No Labels ... Max Docksey ... POLITICO's Gabby Miller ... CQ's Caroline Simon Coudriet … Allie Freedman … Sarah Gadsden … Julia Masterman of Angerholzer Broz Consulting
TRIVIA
THURSDAY'S ANSWER: SP correctly answered that China was the first country to sign a Fulbright agreement.
TODAY'S QUESTION, from Mia: What current member of Congress was formerly a scuba instructor in Thailand?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to [e-mail].