Latest news with #HouseRules
Politico
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Playbook PM: Hill holdouts hold out despite Trump pressure
Presented by THE CATCH-UP THE ART OF THE DEAL: President Donald Trump went to Capitol Hill today to instruct both moderates and hard-liners to set aside their concerns and get the reconciliation megabill done. But even with an extremely loyal conference, he may not have broken through the logjam (yet). Trump on the Hill: The president said on his way into Congress that he'd deliver a 'pep talk' for House Republicans. But behind closed doors, there was some tougher medicine: He urged conservatives to back down from demands for further Medicaid cuts — 'don't fuck around with Medicaid,' Trump said, per POLITICO's Meredith Lee Hill. And he urged blue-state Republicans who want a higher state and local tax deduction to stop fighting and accept Speaker Mike Johnson's latest offer. His big-picture message was to unify and pass the bill. The warnings: Trump told reporters that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) should be unseated, and other reconciliation opponents should 'possibly' face primary challenges. (Massie took it in stride and is still a no, POLITICO's Jennifer Scholtes and Katherine Tully-McManus report.) Inside the meeting, Trump told Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) that 'I know your district better than you do,' per The Hill's Mychael Schnell and colleagues. 'If you lose because of SALT, you were going to lose anyway.' Pushing ahead: Johnson still is aiming to get the bill through House Rules and to the floor tomorrow, and he was due to join the Senate Republican lunch today, per NOTUS. Get ready for negotiations to continue all afternoon, including on yanking clean-energy tax credits. There's a SALT meeting with Johnson at 2 p.m., per Punchbowl's Laura Weiss. But but but: Many of the hard-liner holdouts are holding on. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and others said they're still opposed. House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) told WSJ's Olivia Beavers after the Trump meeting that the president still hadn't won over enough supporters for the current legislation. Harris indicated 'we can get there,' though 'maybe not by tomorrow.' SALT not shaken: And SALT advocates aren't mollified either. Trump argued that blue-state Democratic governors would benefit from a higher deduction, as POLITICO's Benjamin Guggenheim reports. (That stands at odds with his campaign pledge last year, the AP notes.) The latest SALT offer from Johnson was for a $40,000 cap and super-high income limit for four years, falling to $30,000 thereafter, per Punchbowl's Jake Sherman. But the SALT caucus told Johnson they still oppose the bill, with Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) and Lawler all publicly stating their no votes. 'I'm not going to budge,' Lawler insisted. Reality check: The bill Trump urged Republicans to pass was pretty different from the one they actually have, NOTUS' Riley Rogerson and colleagues note. His pitch to avoid most Medicaid reductions belies the major cuts that are already in the legislation, and he vastly overstated the tax hikes Americans would face if the bill didn't pass. 'He's not a detail guy,' said one member. More reading: 'GOP's Tax on Foundations Takes Aim at Billionaire Philanthropy,' Bloomberg … 'Republican Plan to Tax Elite Colleges Could Hit in Unexpected Places,' NYT … 'Trump Threatens to Tax Payments That Power Latin American Allies,' Bloomberg Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at eokun@ 9 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 1. THE LATEST DOCUMENTS: 'New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver faces felony assault charge in conflict at ICE facility, court filing shows,' by POLITICO's Josh Gerstein and Ry Rivard: 'The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark alleges McIver 'slammed her forearm' into one agent and 'forcibly' grabbed him. The Democratic congressmember is also accused of using 'each of her forearms to forcibly strike' another officer, according to the complaint, which includes multiple photos from video cameras worn by officers, as well as others mounted outside the facility.' Said McIver, 'I'm looking forward to my day in court.' 2. TRAIL MIX: With three high-profile choices before him — House, Senate and governor — Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) announced that he'll run for reelection to his current seat, per the Portland Press Herald's Gillian Graham. (Good news for Hakeem Jeffries, less so for Chuck Schumer.) The centrist said he determined that the best path forward was to help Democrats flip the House; it would have been harder for the party to hold his seat if he vacated it. Race for the states: Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms officially jumped into Georgia's Democratic gubernatorial primary, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Greg Bluestein. She called for Medicaid expansion and tried to walk a line between fighting against Trump and seeking bipartisanship with Republicans. … Liberal judge Chris Taylor said she'll run for a Wisconsin state Supreme Court seat next year, aiming to oust incumbent conservative Rebecca Bradley, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Alison Dirr and Molly Beck. 3. VAX NOT: 'FDA Stops Recommending Covid Vaccine Boosters for Most Americans,' by The Free Press' Olivia Reingold: 'In a paper published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, Martin Makary, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Vinay Prasad, the newly appointed head of the FDA's vaccine division, have unveiled a new policy in which the government will no longer recommend Covid booster shots for healthy Americans ages 64 and younger. In addition, as of today, Covid vaccine manufacturers like Moderna and Pfizer will have to conduct trials to prove that their updated vaccines offer clinical benefits such as fewer symptoms, hospitalizations, or deaths.' 4. MUSK READ: Elon Musk said today that he'll significantly scale back his political spending, after the world's richest person became a crucial megadonor for Republicans last year, per the WSJ. Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, Musk indicated that he doesn't 'currently' see a need to spend big: 'I think I've done enough.' (Of course, he at first intended not to spend in the 2024 election either.) At the same time, NYT's Mara Hvistendahl and colleagues detail how Musk personally benefited from striking deals on Trump's Middle East trip last week. In the DOGE house: Musk may be taking a step back, but the ongoing impact of his slashing of the government is massive. WaPo's William Wan and Hannah Natanson have a deep dive into the intentional traumatizing of the federal workforce, which left many civil servants 'feeling devalued, demoralized and scared for themselves and the country' — and some struggling with suicidal ideation or panic attacks. Meanwhile, as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calls for more healthful food, USDA cuts to a school nutrition program have made achieving that goal more difficult, Reuters' Renee Hickman reports from Tucson, Arizona. 5. IMMIGRATION SIREN: 'Trump proposal to repatriate Ukrainians, Haitians would use foreign aid funds,' by WaPo's Adam Taylor and Martine Powers: 'The Trump administration has devised plans to spend up to $250 million earmarked for foreign assistance to fund instead the removal and return of people from active conflict zones, including 700,000 Ukrainian and Haitian migrants who fled to the United States amid extreme, ongoing violence … [T]he draft documents also mention Afghans, Palestinians, Libyans, Sudanese, Syrians and Yemenis, saying they, too, could be targeted as part of the voluntary deportation program.' Another notable program: 'Trump administration fined this low-income migrant $1.8 million,' by Reuters' Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke: 'Trump has started to operationalize a plan to fine migrants who fail to leave the U.S. after a final deportation order, issuing notices to 4,500 migrants with penalties totaling more than $500 million … [People were] fined from several thousand dollars to just over $1.8 million.' Top talker: DHS Secretary Kristi Noem couldn't correctly state what habeas corpus is when pressed to define the concept by Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), per CNN. Watch the video 6. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Trump is increasingly fed up with the war in Gaza and upset by starving Palestinian children, Axios' Barak Ravid reports. He wants Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to end the conflict quickly and has instructed aides to convey that, though it doesn't yet amount to significant pressure on Israel. 'If the president wants a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza he needs to put much more pressure on both sides,' one Israeli official says. 7. BIG JOHN THUNE DECISION: The Senate majority leader said he'll tee up a vote this week to rescind EPA clean-air waivers that allowed California to impose an electric vehicle mandate, per POLITICO's Jordain Carney. That will set up a high-stakes showdown. The implications aren't just limited to the fight against climate change — California's standards are nation-leading — and the impact on industry. It could also upend Senate precedent: Democrats have made clear that they think using the Congressional Review Act to nullify the waivers, in contravention of the Government Accountability Office and Senate parliamentarian, amounts to undermining the filibuster. Republicans insist it's not a 'nuclear option.' 8. WHAT KASH PATEL IS UP TO: The FBI is shuttering a watchdog unit that sought to police abuses of surveillance, NYT's Charlie Savage and Adam Goldman report. It's a striking moment for Patel, who previously criticized misuses of national security surveillance powers before taking over the agency — and for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which will be up for reauthorization in Congress in less than a year. 9. ONLY HALF A DECADE LATE: 'Democrats Throw Money at a Problem: Countering G.O.P. Clout Online,' by NYT's Teddy Schleifer: '[T]he party's megadonors are being inundated with overtures to spend tens of millions of dollars to develop an army of left-leaning online influencers. … The quiet effort amounts to an audacious — skeptics might say desperate — bet that Democrats can buy more cultural relevance online, despite the fact that casually right-leaning touchstones like [Joe] Rogan's podcast were not built by political donors and did not rise overnight.' TALK OF THE TOWN John Fetterman, under recent pressure for his absenteeism, showed up to his first Homeland Security Committee hearing of the year, where he said Democrats 'failed to secure our border and we deserve to pay a political price for that.' Donald Trump said that he didn't 'even know what the hell' NOTUS is, and that Reese Gorman should 'get yourself a real job.' John Phelan's $8.6 million Kalorama home suffered damage in a gnarly fire, per CBS. The Navy secretary is not occupying the mansion as it undergoes renovations. Melania Trump hung out with kids, including one in a Gulf of America cap, at a White House take-your-child-to-work day event. She has also put up quite the portrait of her husband. Chuck Todd is starting a new Sunday show … at night. EMILY'S NIGHT ON THE TOWN — 'For these liberal women, the future of Democratic politics is still female,' by WaPo's Kara Voght: 'At the Emily's List gala … [p]ress handlers hovered over this reporter's shoulder, interjecting warm yet stern reminders that conversations with attendees were strictly off-the-record. … Questions about Democrats' struggles with male voters were answered — mostly dismissed — with talking points. … In Emily's world, they're rightly having conversations about bridging gaps while supporting an ethos of authenticity that has worked for Democratic women.' OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the 2025 Energy Future Forum, hosted by RealClear, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Center for Energy Analytics in the Chamber's Great Hall yesterday: Daniel Yergin, Marty Durbin, David DesRosiers, Mark Christie, Mark P. Mills, James Robb, Eric Grey, Terrence Keeley, Clay Gaspar, Kimberly Greene, Brandon Craig, Mike Howard, Dan Lipman, Dan Golding, Scott Gatzemeier, Aaron Zubaty, Christopher Guith, Heath Knakmuhs, Ruth Demeter, Jeff Guittard, Ben Geman, Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Evan Halper, Callie Patteson, Jim Varney, James Downing, Nathan Worcester and Chris Knight. — The Planetary Society hosted a kick-off reception for the bipartisan Congressional Planetary Science Caucus yesterday in the Rayburn foyer, including an exhibition of space science. Bill Nye and caucus co-chairs Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.) spoke, and Jack Kiraly emceed. SPOTTED: Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), George Whitesides (D-Calif.) and Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Alicia Brown, Jen Lotz, Amanda Hendrix, Britney Schmidt and Newton Campbell. MEDIA MOVES — Amanda Chu will be a health care influence reporter at POLITICO. She previously has covered U.S. energy for the FT. … The POLITICO Journalism Institute announced its 2025 class: Veronica Violet Bianco, Ronni Butts, Diya Contractor, Laney Crawley, Rachael Dziaba, Marisa Guerra Echeverria, Savannah Grooms, Mara Mellits, Maia Nehme, Caleb Ogilvie, Chinanuekpele (Chinanu) Okoli, Janelle Sears, Daviel (Davi) Schulman, Diamy Wang, Jerry Wu, Dorothy Quanteh and Jasmine Tucker. TRANSITIONS — Former Obama White House counsel Gregory Craig is joining Foley Hoag as senior counsel. … Jeremy Dalrymple is now associate director and fellow of governance at the R Street Institute. He most recently was counsel to the Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee, and is a Heritage and Senate Budget alum. … Jason Todd is joining the National Automobile Dealers Association as policy and grassroots advocacy director. He previously was VP at Independent Electrical Contractors. … … Sarah Salas is now policy adviser for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). She previously was legislative assistant and professional staff member for Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). … Eun Young Choi is now a partner at Arnold & Porter. She previously was deputy assistant AG in the Justice Department's National Security Division. … Elizabeth Gregory is now a VP in the strategy and comms practice at Teneo. She most recently was a senior adviser to Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) and Dina Powell McCormick, as well as ColdSpark. ENGAGED — Karalee Geis, senior associate director for the White House's Office of Public Liaison, and Niall McMillan, an attorney at Offit Kurman, got engaged Saturday at West Potomac Park. They met at a birthday party for Nick Lisowski. Pic BONUS BIRTHDAY: Ben Yoho of The Strategy Group Company Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
Axios
19-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Budget panel sends Trump's "big, beautiful bill" to House floor
The House Budget Committee approved President Trump's " big, beautiful bill" Sunday after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) convinced a cadre of Republican opponents to drop their opposition pending changes that have not yet been publicly disclosed and may still be in flux. Why it matters: It's a big win for Johnson and Trump, two days after GOP opposition torpedoed their first attempt at committee passage. But they'll still need to pass it through House Rules and on the House floor, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority. The vote was 17-16, with four Republicans voting "present" and all Democrats in opposition. GOP Reps. Chip Roy (Texas), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Andrew Clyde (Ga.) and Josh Brecheen (Okla.) voted present after voting "no" on Friday. Norman said he was "excited about the changes" in the works for the bill. Catch up quick: The panel on Friday rejected the bill in a 16-21 vote, touching off a weekend of furious negotiations with GOP holdouts on the committee. Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said during Sunday night's session that there "most likely there would be some changes" to the measure before it comes to the floor. But Arrington said he couldn't comment on specifics or any side deals that might have been struck. Johnson told reporters at the Capitol earlier Sunday night that there had been "minor modifications" to the measure, according to multiple reports on X. Zoom in: One of the stickiest sticking points has been the GOP's massive Medicaid overhaul, with conservatives and moderates pulling in opposite directions on proposed changes.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
CON repeal, a Morrisey priority, fails again as WV House strongly rejects discharging bill to floor
Dels. Matthew Rohrbach, Brandon Steele and J.B. Akers discuss House Rules at the speaker's podium on Friday, March 28, 2025, as confusion dominated the debate to discharge House Bill 2007 from committee to the floor. (Perry Bennett | West Virginia Legislative Photography) Another nail was hammered into the coffin of Certificate of Need repeal on Friday, as the West Virginia House of Delegates overwhelmingly voted down — after a drawn out 'fiasco' over rules and procedure — a motion to discharge House Bill 2007. With 10 members absent and not voting, lawmakers in the body voted 72-15 against discharging the bill. The discharge motion, if successful, would have brought the original version of HB 2007 — a bill to totally repeal the Certificate of Need process in the state — to the House floor, where the full body would have considered it for the first time. The bill died last month in the House Committee on Health and Human Resources when lawmakers voted 13-12 against it. Del. Chris Anders, R-Berkeley, made the motion to discharge the bill from committee and to the floor, saying members should support his motion because HB 2007 'will end the government created monopoly on health care.' In response to Anders, Del. Carl Martin, R-Upshur, immediately made a motion to table his discharge motion. But Martin's motion, said Del. Matthew Rohrbach, R-Cabell, who was acting as speaker, was out of order and not allowed based on rules of the chamber. This is despite a motion to table a discharge motion previously being successful earlier this session. That previous motion and vote, Rohrbach said, should have been out of order as well. Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, called for a motion to overturn Rohrbach's ruling, which was supported by House counsel as well as the House parliamentarian and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, who was not present Friday. 'What are we even doing here?!' Steele exclaimed, before his motion failed 58-31. With that failed vote, and after several back-and-forths regarding the technicalities of the House Rules as well as Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure — the rulebook that dictates House actions this year alongside the chamber's own rules — Rohrbach's ruling that Martin's motion to table the discharge motion was out of order stood as the rule of the chamber. The body then voted down Anders' original discharge motion, laying HB 2007 to rest yet again. Repealing Certificate of Need in West Virginia was one of only two health care policies that Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced as priorities for his first legislative session this year. The other policy — adding religious and philosophical exemptions to the state's vaccine mandates — failed on the House floor earlier this week. During his State of the State, Morrisey called the Certificate of Need process 'big government activism at its worst' and promised that by repealing it, the state would 'move toward the free market.' Bills to repeal CON have been introduced in the Legislature annually since at least 2017. This year marked the second time ever that the bill made it to a committee, as well as the second time it was voted down by that committee. CON is a regulatory process, overseen by the West Virginia Health Care Authority, that requires entities looking to create or expand health care services in the state to receive a legal document proving those new services fit an unmet need in the area. Through the Health Care Authority, those interested in obtaining a Certificate of Need receive technical assistance before applying to see what need they are meeting. Services are approved through a needs methodology and different services — such as hospice care, ambulatory centers, clinics, private practices and specialty services — have different methodologies. Proponents for the repeal believe that doing away with the laws will allow more competition in health care across West Virginia. Those against repeal worry that doing away with the process will hurt West Virginia's more rural and vulnerable populations, where a lack of regulation could threaten what services are offered to the 75% of residents who are government payers, meaning their health insurance comes from Medicare, Medicaid or the Public Employees Insurance Agency. While the House's version of the bill to repeal Certificate of Need seems relatively dead — all bills must be at least on first reading on the floor in their chambers of origin by Sunday — another bill has been introduced in the Senate that would do the same. Lawmakers there, however, have yet to touch it and seem unlikely to do so. In past years, there have been Hail Mary attempts to amend a total repeal of certificate of need into other bills that deal with the same section of code. It's possible the same could happen this year, as several bills that touch on Certificate of Need are still circulating as crossover day approaches next week. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Axios
12-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
N.C. lawmakers look to crack down on psychoactive hemp products
Changes may soon be coming to North Carolina's booming hemp industry, which has thrived in recent years thanks to the state's lack of restrictions, oversight and safety standards for intoxicating weed-like products. Why it matters: North Carolina remains one of just a handful of states where marijuana — medical or not — remains illegal. At the same time, it's among the most lenient for its regulation of products extracted from hemp, some of which can provide a weed-like high. That lack of regulation has given way to a situation in which anything goes: Dispensaries, bars, bottle shops, restaurants and even pizzerias across the state can sell an array of intoxicating products without age restrictions. The big picture: If a hemp bill filed Tuesday becomes law, it will transform the state's hemp industry, which has largely remained unchecked since 2022. That year, the General Assembly passed legislation bringing the state in line with federal regulations on hemp, declassifying it as a controlled substance so long as the dry-weight product contains less than 0.3% of the psychoactive component of marijuana, delta-9 THC. Driving the news: State Sens. Todd Johnson, Danny Britt and Michael Lazzara filed a 16-page bill Tuesday that would crack down on the manufacturing, sale and distribution of hemp. The legislation would make it illegal for stores to sell consumable hemp-derived products to anyone under 21 or for anyone under 21 to possess the products. Additionally, the products would be prohibited on school grounds. The bill would also require licenses for hemp manufacturers, distributors and sellers, and it would mandate that manufacturers test the products for heavy metals, pesticides and other toxic substances. What they're saying: Among the states that are considering hemp legislation, North Carolina's bill "is one of the best — if not the very best — hemp bills in the country," cannabis advocate and business law attorney Rod Kight told Axios by email. "It supports the state's existing hemp industry while also creating appropriate guardrails to prevent minors from accessing hemp products, mandating safety standards, and requiring specific labeling and marketing information so that adults can make informed decisions about the hemp products that they choose to purchase and use." The intrigue: House Rules Chairman Rep. John Bell, who is the president of CBD and hemp manufacturer Asterra Labs, has been involved in discussions about the legislation. Bell attributes his involvement to the fact that he is the only person in the industry in the state legislature, however he wasn't familiar with the details of the final version of the bill, he told Axios. Asterra has a "pharmaceutical-grade clean facility where you can eat off the floor," Bell told WUNC last year, but it's "competing in the same market space as a guy who's making it in their backyard." The Senate's proposal this year could put those backyard manufacturer types out of business, as it would ban home-based manufacturing. Bell argues that, though there aren't many companies in the state doing what Asterra does, the legislation won't necessarily be a slam dunk for his company: New licensing fees would cost Asterra money and require changes to how it packages its products, for example. Still, Bell said he'll seek an advisory opinion from the State Ethics Commission, which gives advice to legislators and other public servants on issues including conflicts of interest. Zoom in: As of now, the state has no limits on cannabinoids with psychoactive effects much like those of THC, such as delta-8 — which is often seen in products on shelves across the Triangle — THC-O, HHC, THC-A, delta-7 and delta-10. The cannabis plant has more than 100 cannabinoids. Some of them are psychoactive, while others, like CBD, are not. The Senate's proposal would set dosage limits for a handful of cannabinoids — delta-7, delta-8, delta-9 and delta-10 — but would not set limits on other psychoactive cannabinoids. For edible products, like gummies, a serving could not contain more than 75mg of delta-7, delta-8, delta-9 or delta-10. Liquid products, like drinks, could not have more than 25mg per serving. Zoom out: "North Carolina is widely perceived to be the best hemp state in the country due to its long history with hemp and also its support for the hemp industry," Kight told Axios. "Over the years, the state's hemp-friendly laws and overall pro-hemp environment have resulted in NC being the home base for many of the world's top companies," he wrote in a blog post Tuesday after senators filed the bill. State of play: In 2023, UNC School of Government professor Phil Dixon told WFAE the hemp market in the state was the "wild west." Since then, the industry has only grown: Hemp-derived edibles, drinks and joints with psychoactive effects are in some of Raleigh's favorite restaurants, bottle shops and stores. "If anything, we are more in the Wild West than we were in '23," Dixon told Axios.
Politico
24-02-2025
- Business
- Politico
Capitol agenda: Johnson's make-or-break budget week
Johnson doesn't yet have the votes to get his budget plan approved on the House floor. He's barreling ahead anyway. Johnson is looking to move the budget resolution through House Rules today and to the floor on Tuesday. The former seems likely, at least — the Rules Committee's conservative hard-liners, Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman, are on board with Johnson's framework. But Tuesday's floor vote is ambitious, even with Trump endorsing Johnson's one-bill strategy for passing the president's border, energy and tax agenda. Johnson can likely only afford to lose one or two Republicans if he wants to move forward on his plan, depending on Democratic attendance. Rep. Thomas Massie has privately told members he plans to vote against it. Other pain points: A handful of politically vulnerable members are still undecided on the measure. Some are planning to meet with Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie and GOP leaders today, as leadership tries to get Republicans on board. E&C is a major player because the budget plan would task it with cutting $880 billion — reductions that it will likely only find in Medicaid. It doesn't help that Republicans are returning from a week in their districts where several faced a backlash from constituents over Trump and Elon Musk's chaotic attempts to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending. Senate skepticism persists: Senate Republicans will be watching Johnson's progress to see if the 'Plan B' they approved last week will end up in play after all. Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham said that he's hoping Johnson gets his one-bill plan approved. If he does, Graham added: 'I will be his biggest fan.' What else we're watching: DOGE backlash: GOP lawmakers largely defended — or declined to criticize — Trump and Musk's slashing strategy as they were confronted by constituents concerned about potential cuts to safety-net programs and the vast power the president is giving to Musk. And more Republican senators are publicly raising concerns about the department's actions, including Sens. John Curtis and Lisa Murkowski. GOP lawmakers — or — Trump and Musk's slashing strategy as they were confronted by constituents concerned about potential cuts to safety-net programs and the vast power the president is giving to Musk. And more Republican senators are publicly raising concerns about the department's actions, including Sens. John Curtis and Lisa Murkowski. CRAs around the corner: House and Senate Republicans are gearing up to undo Biden administration regulations through Congressional Review Act resolutions and could begin voting on the rollbacks as soon as this week. The Senate plans to begin considering CRA resolutions that would reverse rules on bank mergers, methane emissions and other matters in the coming weeks. House and Senate Republicans are gearing up to through Congressional Review Act resolutions and could begin voting on the rollbacks as soon as this week. The Senate plans to begin considering CRA resolutions that would reverse rules on bank mergers, methane emissions and other matters in the coming weeks. California wildfire aid: California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a request on Friday to congressional leaders for $40 billion in federal aid to help rebuild after devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area. It's unclear whether congressional leaders will attach disaster money, or how much, to an upcoming federal funding package. Meredith Lee Hill and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report. Want this in your inbox before 5 a.m.? Subscribe to the Inside Congress newsletter here.
