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Trump sidelines appropriators

Trump sidelines appropriators

Politico20-03-2025

IN TODAY'S EDITION:
EXCLUSIVE: A polite warning from the White House — Inside Congress this morning has a first look at Rachael Bade's Playbook Deep Dive interview with White House deputy chief of staff James Blair, who oversees legislative affairs. In a clip we're bringing you this morning — the full interview will be out Friday — Blair says the administration strives to resolve Capitol Hill clashes privately, but 'will not be bashful' about other methods to advance the president's agenda. Check out Playbook for another scoop from the interview later today.
APPROPS PROBLEMS — The Senate and House Appropriations Committees have long held enormous influence and power. But Hill spending leaders are losing their clout in President Donald Trump's second administration.
Things started going downhill for appropriators once Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk and White House budget director Russ Vought made clear they intended to assume expansive power over government spending, typically directed by Congress. However, after last week's government funding fight — where House Republican leaders bypassed the Appropriations Committees' bipartisan negotiators and jammed through a partisan bill — morale among many appropriators is at an all-time low, Katherine Tully-McManus reports.
'You're talking to a pretty discouraged appropriator right now,' GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a longtime member of the committee, told Katherine in an interview.
Still, appropriators insist their relevance will return. They'll have a chance to prove it in the coming months, since Republicans have set a lofty goal to return to 'regular order' and pass all 12 appropriations bills before the Sept. 30 deadline.
That hasn't been accomplished since the 1990s. But West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, an appropriator and a member of Senate GOP leadership, told Katherine 'heads will explode' if Republicans don't meet that goal.
Republican appropriators are also being instructed to work Trump and Musk's cuts into the next batch of spending bills — moves that are sure to spark Democratic ire and could alienate some moderate GOP lawmakers, too.
If all Republicans can rally behind a strategy for writing the funding bills and codifying DOGE-ordered spending cuts, they might be able to pull it off. House Republicans managed to pass the stopgap funding bill last week without relying on Democratic support, putting enough pressure on Senate Democrats to get it to Trump's desk. The president got almost all fiscal hawks to support spending legislation they would typically oppose — perhaps the biggest sign of power shifting away from appropriators, who have long-relied on bipartisan cooperation.
Even Rep. Chip Roy, a vocal opponent of so-called continuing resolutions, called the spending bill Congress passed 'the right approach.'
GOOD THURSDAY MORNING. House votes are not expected on March 26 so members can attend the funeral of late-Rep. Raul Grijalva.
Email your Inside Congress scribes at mmccarthy@politico.com and lkashinsky@politico.com.
COMING SOON TO YOUR INBOX — We've re-imagined and expanded Inside Congress this year to give you unmatched reporting on Capitol Hill politics and policy. We're not done. In the coming weeks, we plan to send you extra editions when we have must-read scoops and intelligence. If you already get Inside Congress in your inbox, then you'll receive the updates automatically as news breaks. Thank you for reading.
THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Trump will push for D.C. funding fix
Trump wants Congress to fix a big cut to the District of Columbia's local budget, triggered by the most recent stopgap funding bill. But he's leaving it up to Speaker Mike Johnson to figure out how to do it, two White House officials tell our colleagues Jake Traylor, Katherine and Meredith Lee Hill.
The president is ready to work the phones and wield his social media soapbox to get House Republicans behind a bipartisan bill that would restore Washington's ability to control its own previously-approved budget, after House Republicans omitted language from the stopgap funding bill allowing the city to do so. The Senate passed a bill fixing the issue on Friday, so it only needs to clear the House to head to Trump's desk.
Johnson will be responsible for bringing the measure to the floor, though he may have to appease some hard-line members who want to restrict Washington's spending powers. A White House official said the president has confidence Johnson will schedule a vote, though the official expected Trump's ask to the speaker will be 'behind-the-scenes.'
Chuck Schumer's bad week continues
More Democrats are piling onto the pushback against the Senate minority leader after he voted to advance the GOP-drafted stopgap funding bill last week. Rank-and-file Democrats are also facing the heat at town halls in their districts, fielding questions about whether Schumer should stay on as a party leader. Our colleague Brakkton Booker talked to Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey on Wednesday, who said during a town hall on Tuesday night that it might be time for Schumer to call it quits.
'If he can get himself together and come — you know, get right on this vote and we get another shot at it, OK,' Ivey said in the interview. 'But if he's going to do the same thing again when this bill comes up six months from now, we can't afford that.'
Progressive Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez said similarly in an interview with our Ali Bianco: 'This is a moment for Democrats to do more than just talk about fighting … but actually using every legislative authority to do that.'
Still, Senate Democrats — who actually get to vote on their leader — are staying largely quiet on whether Schumer should step down. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet both declined to comment on Schumer's future during town halls in their states.
POLICY RUNDOWN
OPPOSITION TO MILITARY SHAKEUP — Two leading Republican experts in defense policy aren't on board with Pentagon plans for a dramatic shakeup of the military's command structure in Europe, our Connor O'Brien reports. Sen. Roger Wicker and Rep. Mike Rogers — the chairs of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, respectively — said Wednesday that they will not sign off on proposed 'unilateral changes' to military posture that would include the U.S. stepping down from its longtime role as supreme commander of NATO forces.
Rogers and Wicker noted they support Trump's efforts to push U.S. allies to increase their defense spending. Still, their pushback signals the administration could be in for a struggle with GOP defense hawks over some of its most significant efforts to shake up the Pentagon. While the changes would save money, retired senior officers said they would hurt U.S. influence and impede military planning and operations.
CUTTING FROM THE CR — On Friday, Congress passed its funding bill that would appropriate about $77 million for Radio Free Europe, a nonprofit news organization that broadcasts in Eastern Europe, for the rest of the fiscal year. On Saturday, Kari Lake, a senior Trump administration official, sent a letter to the organization saying its funding would be canceled, our Kyle Cheney reports.
It was the precise scenario many Democrats cited in stating their opposition to the government funding measure: without guardrails to stop Trump from withholding congressionally approved funding, things like this were bound to happen.
And it transpired quickly, with Trump issuing an order the night the bill passed calling for reducing the U.S. Agency of Global Media to its minimum required level of function. Lake, a senior adviser to USAGM's acting director, told Radio Free Europe that its grant would be canceled 'in its entirety.' The organization's CEO, Steve Capus, has filed an emergency petition with Washington's U.S. District Court to restore its funding.
NPR AND PBS ON THE HILL — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced the CEOs of NPR and PBS will appear next week before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, our colleague Hailey Fuchs reports. The media leaders will face questioning on their outlets' news coverage during a hearing titled 'Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.'
'I want to hear why NPR and PBS think they should ever again receive a single cent from the American taxpayer,' Greene, the subcommittee chair, said in a statement, criticizing their lack of coverage of hot-button conservative issues like Hunter Biden's laptop and the origins of COVID-19.
TACKLING ONLINE SAFETY — A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will meet Wednesday to discuss dangers for children online, as the committee looks to build bipartisan consensus on legislation to address potential social media harms against minors, our Ben Leonard reports. That discussion could include talks of reviving the Kids Online Safety Act, which has major bipartisan support and the public backing of both Musk and Donald Trump Jr.
Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
THE CARRYOUT
Sen. Ed Markey is a fan of having breakfast for lunch. His favorite place to have it at the Capitol is in the Senate dining room — scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with butter. 'Loads of it,' per his staff.
Think you or your boss has the best food recommendation on the Hill? Email it: mmccarthy@politico.com.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Musk Donates to GOP Members of Congress Who Support Impeaching Judges, from Maggie Haberman, Theodore Schleifer and Annie Karni at NYT
Even Tom Cole Is Defending DOGE, from Russell Berman at The Atlantic
'Have you seen our congressman?' Angry voters press GOP for answers, from Hannah Knowles at the Washington Post
CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE
FLYING IN: Nearly three dozen members of the National Retail Federation's tax committee hit the Hill Wednesday to discuss extending the 2017 tax law. Retailers were slated to meet with senior staff from the offices of Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Sens. John Cornyn and Steve Daines and the Senate Finance Committee.
Scott Raab, a former top aide to Sen. Mitch McConnell, is launching Raab Government Strategies, a strategic consulting and government relations firm.
Matt Gallivan has left Leavitt Partners, where he's served as a principal, to launch Genesis Health Strategies. The firm will work to help health care clients weather what Gallivan said is a 'political reckoning' for the industry, in part by helping navigate the reconciliation process. Gallivan previously served as health policy director for now-Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy during the failed GOP effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act via reconciliation.
Lauren Reamy is now an SVP at Penn Avenue Partners. She previously was deputy chief of staff and legislative director to former Sen. Marco Rubio.
Clay Armentrout is joining Allen Control Systems as SVP of government relations. He previously was chief of staff for Sen. Katie Britt.
Alexandria Phelps is now an EVP at BerlinRosen. She previously was director of strategic comms for USAID and is a Vivek Murthy, HHS, Kirsten Gillibrand and Schumer alum.
JOB BOARD
FIRST IN POLITICO: Rep. Carlos Gimenez is announcing new changes to his staff. Rey Anthony is now deputy chief of staff after previously serving as comms director and Roberto Lugones is now comms director after previously serving as press secretary.
Ellie Dougherty is now comms director for Sen. Jon Ossoff's reelection campaign. She previously was a regional press secretary at the DCCC.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Rep. Keith Self … CNN's Phil Rucker … Gloria Story Dittus of Story Partners … Mark Putnam of Putnam Partners … Arthur Scott … Michael Whouley of Dewey Square Group… Benjy Sarlin … Naomi Zeigler … Sally Aman … Results for America's Zac Coile … Jessica Carter … Abbey Welborn ... Gloria Totten ... Cory Gattie .… Ruth Osinski of BGR Group
TRIVIA
WEDNESDAY'S ANSWER: Jon Fisher correctly answered that 15 federal judges have been impeached.
TODAY'S QUESTION, from Jon: What President was the first to try to directly influence the Fed's monetary policies by asking it to tighten credit and raise interest rates?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com.

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The LAPD later told the Times that it had detained the van driver, and noted 'multiple charges to follow.' 12:30 a.m. EDTThe Los Angeles Police Department has announced that gatherings at Downtown Los Angeles have 'been declared as an UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY,' as it ordered people to 'leave the Downtown Area immediately.' June 8, 11.45 p.m. EDTIn an interview with MSNBC, Newsom dared the Trump administration to come and arrest him in response to earlier comments by the president's border czar Tom Homan threatened to go after any official who interferes the immigration crackdown. Newsom told MSNBC, 'Come after me, arrest me, let's just get it over with, tough guy...I don't give a damn, but I care about my community.' In his interview, Newsom once again accused Trump of 'putting fuel on the fire,' with his actions and confirmed that his state will file a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday. 11.30 p.m. EDTCalifornia's Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis told CNN that she expects state officials to file a federal lawsuit on Monday against the Trump administration's move to federalize and deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles. Kounalakis said the lawsuit will say that the president did not have the 'authority to call in the National Guard for 400 people protesting in a way that local law enforcement could clearly handle it.' Earlier in the evening, Newsom said he had made a formal request to the White House to 'rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command,' The governor said: 'This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they're actually needed.' 4 p.m. EDTWhen asked by reporters whether he would invoke the Insurrection Act, the law that gives presidents the authority to deploy the military domestically, Trump said, 'Depends on whether or not there's an insurrection,' adding he does not think the Los Angeles protests are an insurrection, though he said there are 'violent people, and we're not going to let them get away with it.' Trump said he called Newsom and told him he had to 'take care' of the protests, otherwise he would 'send in the troops,' and he told a reporter who asked whether California officials who obstruct deportations would face federal charges: 'If officials stand in the way of law and order, yeah, they will face charges.' 1:30 p.m. EDTAbout 300 members of the National Guard have been stationed across Los Angeles so far, The New York Times reported, the first soldiers as part of the 2,000 Trump has promised to station across the city as more protests are expected to take place this afternoon. 1 p.m. EDTLos Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told the Los Angeles Times said she tried to talk to the Trump administration to 'tell them that there was absolutely no need to have troops on the ground here in Los Angeles,' stating the protests on Saturday were 'relatively minor' and 'peaceful,' with about 100 protesters. 3:22 a.m. EDTBass appeared to rebuff Trump's claim the National Guard did a 'great job' in the city, stating in a post on X that the National Guard had not yet been deployed at that time in Los Angeles, while praising Newsom and local law enforcement. 2:41 said in a late-night Truth Social post the National Guard did a 'great job' in Los Angeles, while slamming Newsom and Bass and the 'Radical Left' protesters and stating protesters will no longer be allowed to wear masks: 'What do these people have to hide, and why???' 12:14 slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for 'threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens' as 'deranged behavior.' June 7The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it had arrested two people Saturday evening for alleged assault on a police officer, stating multiple officers had been injured by a Molotov cocktail, the Los Angeles Times reported. 10:34 exhibited 'violent behavior' toward federal agents and local law enforcement, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement, while clarifying it is not involved in federal law enforcement response and is instead focused on crowd and traffic control. 10:22 a post on X, Newsom said the federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying soldiers in Los Angeles solely to create a 'spectacle.' 10:06 announced in a post on X the Department of Defense is 'mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles,' stating Marines are standing by for deployment in case of violence. 9:17 House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Trump would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to address 'lawlessness,' citing protests targeting immigration officers. Similar protests have spread to other cities across the U.S., including San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Seattle, Boston, Santa Ana, California, and parts of Texas, including Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. At least 80 protesters were arrested in New York, while 15 were arrested in Philadelphia, more than a dozen were arrested in Austin and one was detained in Dallas. At least two police officers were injured during protests in Philadelphia. Los Angeles Metro Police officers stand on the road in front of city hall Tuesday night. People take part in an anti-ICE protest in New York City on Tuesday. Protesters walk by the Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago on Tuesday. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will hold a press conference at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday. Protests broke out Friday and Saturday in Paramount and Compton, cities adjacent to Los Angeles, over immigration raids conducted by ICE, during which the agency detained 44 immigrants Friday and 118 immigrants Saturday, the Associated Press reported. Police and protesters clashed over the weekend, according to local reports and videos on social media, with law enforcement using tear gas and flash grenades to break up the crowds while some protesters threw rocks and lit vehicles on fire. Glendale, California, announced Sunday the city had terminated an agreement with Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allowed the agencies to house federal detainees at the city's police facility. Glendale officials said the move was 'a local decision and was not made lightly,' as the city 'recognizes that public perception of the ICE contract—no matter how limited or carefully managed, no matter the good—has become divisive.' Glendale's city manager opted to end the contract after 'careful evaluation of legal, operational and community considerations,' the city said, noting the decision was not 'politically driven.' Trump reportedly said in a memo he is invoking Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services, which allows the federal government to deploy the National Guard if the United States is 'invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation,' or if there is a 'rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.' Vice President JD Vance said in a post on X on Saturday night the influx of immigrants, which he called 'Biden's border crisis,' amounts to an 'invasion,' rebuffing critics who have questioned whether Trump had the authority to deploy troops. Trump's move has faced some pushback from constitutional scholars. 'For the federal government to take over the California National Guard, without the request of the governor, to put down protests is truly chilling,' Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, told the Los Angeles Times. The legal issues raised by Trump sending the National Guard to L.A. (Los Angeles Times)

Trump EPA moves to repeal climate rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from US power plants
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The Hill

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  • The Hill

Trump EPA moves to repeal climate rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from US power plants

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If approved and made final, the plans would reverse efforts by Democratic President Joe Biden's administration to address climate change and improve conditions in areas heavily burdened by industrial pollution, mostly in low-income and majority Black or Hispanic communities. The power plant rules are among about 30 environmental regulations that Zeldin targeted in March when he announced what he called the 'most consequential day of deregulation in American history.' Zeldin said Wednesday the new rules would help end what he called the Biden and Obama administration's 'war on so much of our U.S. domestic energy supply.' 'The American public spoke loudly and clearly last November,' he added in a speech at EPA headquarters. 'They wanted to make sure that … no matter what agency anybody might be confirmed to lead, we are finding opportunities to pursue common-sense, pragmatic solutions that will help reduce the cost of living … create jobs and usher in a golden era of American prosperity.' Environmental and public health groups called the rollbacks dangerous and vowed to challenge the rules in court. Dr. Lisa Patel, a pediatrician and executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health, called the proposals 'yet another in a series of attacks' by the Trump administration on the nation's 'health, our children, our climate and the basic idea of clean air and water.' She called it 'unconscionable to think that our country would move backwards on something as common sense as protecting children from mercury and our planet from worsening hurricanes, wildfires, floods and poor air quality driven by climate change.' 'Ignoring the immense harm to public health from power plant pollution is a clear violation of the law,' added Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council. 'If EPA finalizes a slapdash effort to repeal those rules, we'll see them in court.' The EPA-targeted rules could prevent an estimated 30,000 deaths and save $275 billion each year they are in effect, according to an Associated Press examination that included the agency's own prior assessments and a wide range of other research. It's by no means guaranteed that the rules will be entirely eliminated — they can't be changed without going through a federal rulemaking process that can take years and requires public comment and scientific justification. Even a partial dismantling of the rules would mean more pollutants such as smog, mercury and lead — and especially more tiny airborne particles that can lodge in lungs and cause health problems, the AP analysis found. It would also mean higher emissions of the greenhouse gases driving Earth's warming to deadlier levels. Biden, a Democrat, had made fighting climate change a hallmark of his presidency. Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a strict EPA rule issued last year. Then-EPA head Michael Regan said the power plant rules would reduce pollution and improve public health while supporting a reliable, long-term supply of electricity. The power sector is the nation's second-largest contributor to climate change, after transportation. In its proposed regulation, the Trump EPA argues that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-fired power plants 'do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution' or climate change and therefore do not meet a threshold under the Clean Air Act for regulatory action. Greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired plants 'are a small and decreasing part of global emissions,' the EPA said, adding: 'this Administration's priority is to promote the public health or welfare through energy dominance and independence secured by using fossil fuels to generate power.' The Clean Air Act allows the EPA to limit emissions from power plants and other industrial sources if those emissions significantly contribute to air pollution that endangers public health. If fossil fuel plants no longer meet the EPA's threshold, the Trump administration may later argue that other pollutants from other industrial sectors don't either and therefore shouldn't be regulated, said Meghan Greenfield, a former EPA and Justice Department lawyer now in private practice. The EPA proposal 'has the potential to have much, much broader implications,' she said. Zeldin, a former New York congressman, said the Biden-era rules were designed to 'suffocate our economy in order to protect the environment,' with the intent to regulate the coal industry 'out of existence' and make it 'disappear.' National Mining Association president and CEO Rich Nolan applauded the new rules, saying they remove 'deliberately unattainable standards' for clean air while 'leveling the playing field for reliable power sources, instead of stacking the deck against them.' But Dr. Howard Frumkin, a former director of the National Center for Environmental Health and professor emeritus at the University of Washington School of Public Health, said Zeldin and Trump were trying to deny reality. 'The world is round, the sun rises in the east, coal-and gas-fired power plants contribute significantly to climate change, and climate change increases the risk of heat waves, catastrophic storms and many other health threats,' Frumkin said. 'These are indisputable facts. If you torpedo regulations on power plant greenhouse gas emissions, you torpedo the health and well-being of the American public and contribute to leaving a world of risk and suffering to our children and grandchildren.' A paper published earlier this year in the journal Science found the Biden-era rules could reduce U.S. power sector carbon emissions by 73% to 86% below 2005 levels by 2040, compared with a reduction of 60% to 83% without the rules. 'Carbon emissions in the power sector drop at a faster rate with the (Biden-era) rules in place than without them,' said Aaron Bergman, a fellow at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit research institution and a co-author of the Science paper. The Biden rule also would result in 'significant reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, pollutants that harm human health,' he said.

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