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GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Hegseth, Caine to sell $1.5T Pentagon budget to Dem skeptics

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine head to the Hill this morning to sell the Trump administration’s $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget before the House Armed Services Committee—a price tag that’s already hitting resistance from Democrats.

It will be Hegseth’s first appearance before Congress since the war in Iran started.

Top House Democrats aren’t just balking at the size of the defense increase. They’re zeroing in on the tradeoffs, arguing the proposal pairs a massive Pentagon boost with cuts to housing, health care and education—areas they say are central to lowering costs and improving economic mobility.

“We’re willing to be at the table, but you cannot cut healthcare and supplemental nutrition. You cannot cut programs that Americans rely on all for the purpose of defense,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said Tuesday. “We cannot support a budget that only supports the DOD and Pentagon and Pete Hegseth while turning our back on the American people and the struggles that they face.”

Vice Chair Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) is taking a similar line, arguing he won’t back more Pentagon funding without a strategy reset that reflects lessons from the Iran war. He pointed to three early takeaways: U.S. defensive munitions are already being depleted, even a less capable military like Iran has managed to hit U.S. bases with meaningful damage, and the cost imbalance between high-end U.S. interceptors and low-cost drones is unsustainable.

“Until the Department of Defense comes up with a new strategy, they should not be asking for any more funds,” Lieu added.

The administration argues the roughly 66% jump over the current $900 billion-plus budget is necessary to counter global threats, with investments aimed at force modernization, the defense industrial base and naval expansion—including 18 new “battle force” ships—as well as pay increases and a proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system.

At the same time, the broader Trump budget would cut non-defense discretionary spending by about $73 billion, or roughly 10% below 2026 levels. That includes a $10.7 billion reduction to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, $15.8 billion from Health and Human Services and $2.3 billion from the Education Department.

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FOOD SECURITY

Craig urges Dem ‘hell no’ on GOP farm bill

House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) has been urging Democratic leadership to whip against the GOP’s five-year farm bill as the House moves to take it up today in a bid to stiffen Senate Democrats’ leverage ahead of what she wants to be a bipartisan compromise.

Craig’s core objection is straightforward: the bill would effectively lock in the GOP’s earlier changes to Title IV—the SNAP section—by extending that policy baseline for the life of the farm bill, rather than reopening it for negotiation.

“It’s a bad bill. If Republicans want to have a bipartisan farm bill, then they’re going to have to reengage because, remember, they got to get to 60 [votes] in the Senate. And so my message to Democrats is, let’s not do their work for them,” Craig told me. “Let’s force them back to the negotiating table by sending a ‘hell no’ on the House version, and make sure that we give our Senate colleagues an opportunity to negotiate a truly bipartisan farm bill that we all could support.”

Title IV took a hit in the OBBBA. The law reduced federal spending on SNAP by roughly $180–$300 billion over 10 years, depending on the estimate—one of the largest cuts in the program’s history.

Rather than slashing benefits across the board, Republicans rewrote the rules to expand work requirements, shift costs to states, tighten updates to the formula that sets benefit levels, and put downward pressure on enrollment over time.

Beyond SNAP, the GOP farm bill would extend core agriculture programs through roughly 2031, locking in a multi-year baseline across commodities and conservation while emphasizing domestic production, supply chains, and national security over some of the climate and nutrition priorities Democrats advanced in the 2018 law.

Congress hasn’t passed a new five-year farm bill since 2018, leaning instead on a series of short-term extensions—most recently punting it into this year.

The farm bill was long a bipartisan trade: nutrition programs for Democrats, farm supports for Republicans. But that deal has all but broken down in recent years.

Fights over SNAP funding, work requirements, and benefit levels have hardened along ideological lines, while disputes over commodity supports, crop insurance, and conservation funding have turned more regional and partisan. The coalition that typically carries a five-year bill is getting harder to hold together, as we’ll likely see in the House this week.

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● ● ○

IMMIGRATION

Supreme Court weighs Trump move to end TPS

The Supreme Court takes up a high-stakes immigration case today that could determine whether the Trump administration can end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian nationals.

At issue in the consolidated cases—Mullin v. Doe and Trump v. Miot—is whether the administration can legally revoke those protections for roughly 350,000 people, or whether courts can step in to review how that decision was made.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who recently led a successful House effort to extend Haiti’s TPS designation, said the uncertainty is already taking a toll.

“The anxiety is real because people can’t plan their lives. They’re living with uncertainty and they don’t know if they’re going to be deported back to a place that is very dangerous,” she said, urging the justices to uphold what she emphasized is a lawful status.

The Trump administration argues that federal law gives the Homeland Security secretary broad authority over TPS decisions and shields them from judicial review.

Challengers counter that courts can—and should—review whether the administration followed required legal procedures before moving to terminate protections. Haitian and Syrian TPS holders also argue the decision was tainted by unconstitutional racial animus, pointing to past comments by President Trump.

The stakes extend well beyond this case.

A ruling for the administration could make it easier to unwind protections for the broader TPS population—about 1.3 million people from 17 countries, including Venezuelans.

For now, lower court rulings are keeping the current protections in place while the case plays out. A decision from the Supreme Court is expected later this summer.

Meanwhile, Pressley is teaming up with Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) to push a Haiti TPS bill in the Senate and has joined an amicus brief led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) backing the program ahead of today’s arguments.

“This is the right thing to do,” Pressley said. “It’s common sense, smart policy, and I hope they’ll uphold the law.”

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THE SENATE

Graham says he’s open to ballroom hearing

Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told me on Monday evening he would welcome a congressional hearing on the Trump administration’s White House ballroom project, signaling openness to scrutiny even as he and Sens. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) push legislation to direct $400 million in taxpayer funds toward construction.

The administration has faced criticism for moving ahead with the project, which began last year with the demolition of the East Wing, without explicit congressional authorization, while maintaining that private donations back it. Graham suggested the White House would be willing to make its case on Capitol Hill.

“I think they would love to do that. I welcome a hearing, okay? Have a hearing. Yeah, whatever committee,” he said. “Have a hearing. Should we do my bill? Should we do our bill? You want to do that? I mean, that’s fine with me, yeah.”

Graham said the funding would be offset by new or increased fees tied to imports and border processing—things like duties, user fees, or charges collected by CBP and that his preference is to pass his bill as a stand-alone measure as opposed to attaching it to the immigration-focused reconciliation bill Republicans are currently working on.

In the immediate aftermath of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting on Saturday evening, Republicans began pointing to it to justify the ballroom. But the dinner is a private event at a private venue run by a private organization—not the White House—and it routinely hosts far more guests than the proposed ballroom would hold, with the president attending as an invitee of the White House Correspondents’ Association. That raises questions about why senators like Lindsey Graham are drawing such a direct line between the two.

“Well, I find it appropriate if you’re going to have the president of the United States, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House and half the cabinet in a room, the room matters. And the idea that you can’t do this in the ballroom will be up to the Correspondents’ Association,” Graham said. “It is insane to do this again. Anybody who suggests that we have an event like this in the times in which we live in a facility like Hilton, that’s crazy. We’re going to have to accommodate the times in which we live.”

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REDISTRICTING WARS

Republicans escalate attacks on Jeffries over redistricting rhetoric

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) spent much of his first 18 months as party leader operating below the national noise.

But in recent months—beginning with the opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer, the government shutdown last fall and demands for ICE reforms after federal immigration agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year—the Brooklyn Democrat has taken on a higher-profile role as he ramps up efforts to help Democrats retake the House majority in November.

Republicans have focused in particular on a line Jeffries used while marking a Democratic redistricting win in Virginia—“maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time”—which he deployed to describe an intensified, state-by-state battle over congressional maps.

GOP critics have pointed to the remark as evidence of what they argue is escalatory political rhetoric as the fight over redistricting intensifies ahead of the midterms. After the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, Republicans and conservative commentators elevated that quote as evidence of inflammatory Democratic rhetoric.

Sen. Schmitt argued on Monday evening that Jeffries’s doubling down on his “maximum warfare” comment amounted to empty tough talk aimed at winning back the House, calling it over-the-top and out of step with what the moment demands.

“I think the left has a real assassination-culture problem right now, and we better start talking about it, and we better start resolving it. The Luigi Left here, this is serious business. And I don’t see my Democrat colleagues trying to tone it down.” (Jeffries was the target of a serious death threat from a convicted Jan. 6 offender who received a pardon from Trump.)

But Jeffries didn’t invent the phrase. Instead, he lifted it from a 2025 description of a Trump-aligned redistricting strategy, in which a person close to the president described the GOP approach in identical terms. And while sources close to Jeffries acknowledge his language is blunt, they say it reflects the current state of play more than a departure from it.

Jeffries, for his part, told reporters that violence has no place in politics—regardless of who it targets or where they fall ideologically—and should be unequivocally rejected. But he remained defiant despite multiple opportunities to walk back his use of controversial rhetoric.

“I stand by it,” he said. “You can continue to criticize me for it. I don’t give a damn about your criticism.”

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● ● ○

ROYAL VISIT

King Charles makes rare Capitol address as alliance tested

King Charles III will address a joint session of Congress this afternoon to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence and to strengthen the U.S.-U.K. alliance amid heightened diplomatic tensions over the war in Iran.

The address is expected to emphasize shared democratic values and the principles of reconciliation and renewal. He will also highlight the shared history, democratic traditions, and security interests, including NATO, the Middle East, and the AUKUS pact.

Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that Democrats are eager to welcome King Charles to the Capitol and engage in a bipartisan show of support for the U.S.-U.K. alliance, while arguing that recent Republican policies have strained that historically close relationship.

“Hopefully, the king’s visit is going to go a long way toward repairing the damage that this administration has done to one of our most important allies in the world,” Jeffries added.

The rare address—the first by a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II in 1991—comes at a tense time as President Trump has criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s stance on the war.

Senate leadership, including the Secretary of the Senate and the Deputy Sergeant at Arms, will lead the Senate to the House chamber approximately 35 minutes before the speech is scheduled to begin. House leaders have advised members to be seated around the same time.

Speaker Johnson will greet the king on the Speaker’s Balcony Hallway before walking by Statuary Hall for a photo opportunity. Johnson, His Majesty, and Leaders Thune, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Jeffries will participate in a separate photo op at the top of a private meeting.

The speech is a central part of His Majesty’s first U.S. state visit as king. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump greeted King Charles III and Queen Camilla Parker Bowles at the White House not long after they arrived stateside. The four dignitaries also participated in a tea and beehive tour.

Before the speech on the Hill, President Trump and the First Lady will welcome King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the South Portico, kicking off a series of ceremonial engagements. The leaders will move inside for a private guestbook signing and gift exchange in the Blue Room, followed by a receiving line with official delegations in the Cross Hall.

The president will then sit down with Charles III for a closed-door bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, while the First Lady and Queen Camilla break off for a separate event with students at the White House Tennis Pavilion focused on U.S.-U.K. history and innovation.

The evening program will reset with another formal greeting at the South Portico before the group heads into the residence for a private tour and document viewing. After a second receiving line in the Blue Room, the day concludes with a formal dinner in the East Room.

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FIRST THINGS FIRST

Johnson’s jam-packed week

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was already heading into a high-wire legislative stretch. Now, the fallout from Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting—where a gunman tried to breach security and opened fire before being subdued—has added a new layer of urgency and unpredictability to an already packed agenda.

What’s on deck: Johnson is trying to move three major items before the May 4 recess: a FISA Section 702 extension, a GOP farm bill and a Senate budget resolution to unlock billions of dollars in multi-year ICE and CBP funding. Each one comes with its own coalition problems—and limited room for error.

All three measures must clear the Rules Committee first, setting up an early procedural test this afternoon. Any hiccup there could derail the floor schedule before it begins.

• On FISA: Johnson is boxed in between conservatives demanding warrant requirements and a ban on a central digital banking currency, and Democrats led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who are wary of extending surveillance powers while Kash Patel remains in charge at the FBI.

• On budget reconciliation: Conservatives want to expand the Senate-passed budget resolution beyond immigration enforcement to include the SAVE America Act, safety-net cuts and new funding tied to Trump’s ballroom push—an effort now newly energized by the weekend’s security scare (more on that in the next item).

• On the farm bill: House Agriculture Democrats are opposing the GOP bill over SNAP cuts, limits on state regulations and what they see as a tilt toward large agribusiness.

The backdrop: The week also carries a ceremonial spotlight, with King Charles III set to address a joint meeting of Congress during a state visit marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.

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WHCD SHOOTING FALLOUT

GOP goes all-in on Trump ballroom

In the aftermath of Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, Republicans are leaning aggressively into President Trump’s push for a new White House ballroom at a moment when the cost of living remains voters’ top concern. As I reported in Sunday’s Congress Nerd Sunset, the juxtaposition is not lost on Democrats, who see a clear political opening heading into 2026.

Lawmakers in both chambers have rushed to introduce legislation backing the project, even as Trump has said it would be funded through private donations. The flurry of activity reflects how quickly Republicans have moved to align with the president’s argument that the incident underscores the need for expanded and reconfigured event space.

Democrats say the response highlights a broader disconnect between GOP priorities and the economic pressures facing most Americans.

“They expect the rational to be drowned out by the insane,” a House Democrat told me over the weekend. “But that is not going to happen.”

Behind the scenes, multiple Democratic sources said they plan to sharpen that contrast in the coming days as they pair the GOP’s ballroom advocacy with what they view as insufficient Republican action on prices, from housing and health care to groceries and child care.

The argument is one that has dominated this Congress: that Republican governance under Trump is too often oriented around the president’s personal and political priorities, rather than the kitchen-table concerns likely to define the midterms.

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● ● ○

THE HOUSE

House to vote to up USCP waiver cap

The House is set to vote this evening on bipartisan legislation to give the U.S. Capitol Police more flexibility to retain veteran officers, as leadership tries to avoid a near-term staffing squeeze driven by retirements.

What it does: The bill allows the Capitol Police Board to extend an officer’s service up to age 65, up from the current waiver cap of 60, while keeping the mandatory retirement age at 57 intact.

The change is narrow: officers would still need board approval and must meet physical and operational standards to stay on the job.

Why now: Nearly 60 officers are already working under waivers, a figure larger than two recent recruiting classes.

At the same time, a sizable cohort hired after 9/11 is approaching retirement age, raising the risk of a sudden experience drain even as the force has rebounded to more than 2,300 sworn officers after the January 6 collapse.

Meanwhile, threats against lawmakers remain at record levels. Losing dozens of seasoned officers in a compressed window would strain both readiness and institutional knowledge.

What they’re saying: “The men and women of the United States Capitol Police have one of the most important and challenging jobs in the Legislative Branch,” House Administration Committee Ranking Member Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) said. “The Department cannot afford to lose a substantial number of experienced, fully capable officers solely because they reach an arbitrary age threshold. This is a prudent, targeted step to preserve experience, maintain staffing, and help ensure the Department has the workforce it needs.”

The precedent: Congress has taken similar steps in narrower contexts. In the mid-2000s, lawmakers gave the FBI temporary authority to retain certain agents up to age 65 to ease staffing pressures, though those provisions were limited in scope and duration.

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NATIONAL SECURITY

Jeffries targets Patel as 702 vote nears

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) spoke with Speaker Johnson this week about the trust gap between House Democrats and the Trump administration, warning that FBI Director Kash Patel’s leadership of the nation’s top law enforcement agency could dampen Democratic support for a FISA Section 702 extension.

House conservatives remain reluctant to extend the government’s surveillance powers without changes, including a warrant requirement for searches involving Americans tied to foreign targets and a ban on a central bank digital currency. With whip problems on his right flank and Jeffries declining to guarantee Democratic votes amid concerns about one of the administration’s most controversial figures, Johnson faces a narrow and uncertain path forward with the FISA provision set to expire in a week.

“We recognize that in the abstract, [702] is an important tool to help keep the American people safe from foreign terrorist actors. At the same period of time, there is zero reason for us to trust Kash Patel,” Jeffries told reporters on Thursday morning. “Why is he still around as the FBI director? He is clearly and deeply flawed and unqualified, and many Republicans know it.”

The Brooklyn Democrat pointed to a New York Times report this week that the FBI scrutinized one of its reporters after she published a story about Patel’s girlfriend, raising fresh concerns about the bureau’s independence and press freedom.

According to the report, agents searched internal databases for information on reporter Elizabeth Williamson. They explored whether her reporting could violate federal stalking laws after she wrote about FBI resources being used to provide security and travel support to Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins.

But the inquiry appears to have gone beyond a routine threat response. While the FBI interviewed Wilkins after she received a threat, officials also recommended pursuing a deeper investigation into the reporter, a step that the Justice Department ultimately halted. No charges were filed, but the episode has triggered backlash. The Times leadership called it a potential First Amendment violation, and some DOJ officials reportedly viewed the probe as retaliatory.

“As long as he’s still around as the FBI director, particularly with the most recent disclosures that he’s weaponizing the bureau of the FBI not to keep the American people safe, not to protect us from terrorism, not to go after narco-traffickers, but to go after perceived political adversaries, we’re going to continue to make clear that Kash Patel’s continued presence as the FBI director, is going to make bipartisan common ground on the FISA 702 question extremely difficult,” Jeffries added.

Patel isn’t the only top Trump administration official to receive Jeffries’ ire this week after the Pentagon abruptly pushed out Navy Secretary John Phelan in the wake of escalating clashes with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other Pentagon leaders, especially over shipbuilding policy and control of major defense programs.

Phelan had already been losing authority internally, with senior officials shifting key responsibilities away from him. The breaking point came amid frustrations with his pace on the administration’s shipbuilding push and broader tensions with Hegseth’s leadership style. There was also an ongoing ethics investigation into Phelan’s office, which added to the pressure surrounding his tenure.

Hegseth replaced him with Hung Cao as acting Navy secretary, marking the first service secretary removal under Trump this term and part of a wider purge of senior military leadership.

“Pete Hegseth is a complete and total disgrace at this point, and the mismanagement at the Department of Defense is extraordinary,” Jeffries said. “We’ve lost so many talented, patriotic, skilled, high-ranking officials within our military, and the departure of the Secretary of the Navy is the most recent example by all accounts.”

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Jeffries blasted Hegseth for firing Phelan in retaliation for dissent, arguing the move came at a precarious moment as the U.S. faces a deteriorating situation in the Middle East. He also blamed President Trump for what he described as a costly and misguided conflict with Iran, while arguing Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz has given it strategic leverage, as Americans are bearing the consequences through rising gas prices.

The Democratic leader’s attacks on Patel and Hegseth follow a familiar pattern of isolating controversial administration figures, elevating specific incidents, and applying sustained political pressure to force accountability or removal. He has used the same approach with former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over a mass deportation operation tied to the deaths of two U.S. citizens and former Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of the Epstein files.

If Johnson is unable to stitch together a coalition to pass a 702 extension in the House, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is ready to jump ahead of the speaker. Before the Senate adjourned for the weekend, Thune took the first step toward advancing a clean three-year extension that, if passed, would shift the dynamic from an open-ended House negotiation to a take-it-or-leave-it scenario.

Johnson would no longer be shaping his own bill. He’d be deciding whether to put the Senate product on the floor—with limited room to accommodate conservative demands like a warrant requirement—and under intense pressure to force his conference in line or risk being blamed for letting 702 expire.

“If they can’t come together behind something, then, yeah, we’re prepared to move here,” Thune told me this week.

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CAMPAIGNS

Jeffries projects confidence on House as SCOTUS decision looms

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) projected confidence on Wednesday that Democrats will win back the majority in 2026, even as the Supreme Court of the United States weighs a redistricting case that could reshape the map.

The Court has yet to rule in Louisiana v. Callais, a case with major implications for Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the future of majority-Black districts. Republicans see an opening to redraw maps if the justices weaken the law, but election experts say the window for sweeping changes before November 2026 is already narrowing.

“Whenever the Supreme Court decision comes down, hopefully a majority of the justices do the right thing,” Jeffries told me. “But whatever the circumstances are, we are committed to ensuring that there’s going to be a free and fair election in November, and when that happens, Democrats will take back control of the House of Representatives.”

Jeffries’ public confidence comes on the heels of the successful redistricting referendum in Virginia this week, where his political operation went all in to win the ballot measure that could net Democrats up to four seats if it survives a court challenge.

The delay in Callais has kept both parties in a holding pattern. But Jeffries argued the Supreme Court should stick with precedent and preserve Section 2, calling it a foundational, bipartisan civil rights law meant to safeguard fair elections. He pointed out that the Court—specifically Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh—upheld the provision as recently as 2023 in Allen v. Milligan, and said he sees no reason they would reverse course now.

“Now, I know that some of the far-right justices who are operating in the pocket of the Republican Party are trying to do everything possible to give MAGA extremists an electoral advantage,” Jeffries said in a thinly veiled reference to Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. “And we’re just not going to let it happen.”

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While the courts sort out the Virginia referendum, Jeffries has shifted his focus to Florida, where Republican lawmakers are preparing to convene a special session next week to consider new congressional maps.

Jeffries, speaking to reporters during a Virginia victory-lap press conference, warned Florida Republicans against pursuing an aggressive redraw aligned with Gov. Ron DeSantis. He argued that such a move could backfire politically, citing Texas as a cautionary example and predicting Republicans would fall short of their most ambitious seat targets.

“Our message to Florida Republicans is F around and find out,” Jeffries said. “The Republicans are dummymandering their way into the minority before a single vote is cast.”

The irony is that, despite the ruthlessness Jeffries has demonstrated during the redistricting wars, it was just five years ago when a House Democratic majority passed the For the People Act, which would have effectively ended partisan gerrymandering nationwide by requiring states to use independent redistricting commissions for congressional maps. But it never took effect because it stalled in the Senate.

Jeffries said Democrats stand behind those efforts to establish a national standard but not at the expense of unilateral disarmament.

“Apparently, that’s what Donald Trump believed that we would do. That’s what [Trump political advisor] James Blair believed that we would do,” he said. “They had us confused in terms of the moment that we’re in and the need to push back consistently with the fierce urgency of now.”

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GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Schatz: Dems to center cost-of-living in vote-a-rama

Senate Democrats are preparing for a marathon vote-a-rama as soon as today, when they can offer an unlimited number of amendments to the GOP budget resolution Republicans plan to pass this week to unlock new immigration funding.

The rapid-fire voting session will begin once the chamber exhausts up to 50 hours of debate—time either side can yield back—and is expected to stretch for hours as Democrats force politically charged votes.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who is in line to serve as the number-two Senate Democrat next Congress, told me the caucus plans to keep its focus squarely on the affordability crisis throughout the process.

“We’re going to focus almost exclusively on the cost of living, and we’re going to make the point that they have this extraordinary tool, and they’re using it to pre-fund ICE with no reforms, rather than to reduce the cost of gasoline and electricity and groceries and health insurance,” Schatz said. “And so we’re going to make that case that they have an opportunity, they have the majority to try to do something about the cost of living, and they just literally won’t.”

Schatz, who currently serves as chief deputy whip, acknowledged some members may offer amendments on some of the reforms Democrats demanded during a recent round of unsuccessful negotiations with the White House.

“It’s not like you can just call a play and that’s the thing because every member has a right under the rules to offer an amendment,” Schatz said. “And I do think reforms related to ICE will be among the amendments considered, but our primary focus is going to be on the cost of everything.”

As for whether Democrats will use all of their debate time: “I don’t want to preclude anybody from using it.”

During vote-a-rama, senators are permitted to offer an unlimited number of amendments. Each is typically allowed only 30 to 60 seconds of explanation per side, followed by a 10-minute roll-call vote. The session continues until all pending amendments are disposed of or no more are offered, often lasting throughout the night. Even though most amendments to a budget resolution aren’t binding, they give the minority a chance to put members on record on politically sensitive issues.

As I reported in Tuesday evening’s Sunset, Senate Republicans voted to open debate on a 58-page budget resolution that provides a $140 billion budget allowance split equally between two committees—Homeland Security and Judiciary—over the next decade for immigration and border legislation.

No Democrats voted in favor of the procedural motion.

The two committees must report legislative text by May 15 for the Budget Committee to package into a single reconciliation bill. Republicans are aiming for a roughly $70 billion reconciliation bill, with duplicate instructions to Judiciary and Homeland Security designed to maximize flexibility given their overlapping jurisdiction. The GOP used the same playbook in last year’s budget resolution for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

A second vote-a-rama will occur later in the process once the actual reconciliation bill reaches the floor. President Trump has set a June 1 deadline for Hill Republicans to send the bill to his desk.

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THE HOUSE

Democrats turn the page after Cherfilus-McCormick exit

With Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick now out of Congress, House Democrats are eager to close the book on a bruising ethics saga and redirect attention to their midterm priorities, after what members have described, both privately and publicly, as an unwelcome distraction.

The sentiments followed days of quiet conversations among Democrats—many of them within the Congressional Black Caucus—that reflected deep unease about how to proceed.

Members wrestled with whether to move toward expulsion after the House Ethics Committee found Cherfilus-McCormick committed more than two dozen violations tied to allegations she misused roughly $5 million in federal funds, even as her criminal trial on related charges is not scheduled until early next year.

The divide—between enforcing standards now or waiting for the courts—could have surfaced in a floor vote but was ultimately resolved with her exit.

“That would have been a very hard vote,” a member, who planned to vote against expulsion and was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation, said. “I don’t think that anyone should be expelled, especially when there are criminal allegations, until they have been adjudicated in court.”

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), who serves as the CBC’s whip, pointed to what she described as an uneven application of ethics standards, noting that Republicans have members facing their own investigations while pushing aggressively for Cherfilus-McCormick’s removal.

“The hypocrites have turned into the morality police, and many of the folks who were leading the charges to expel her have allegations that have been brought upon them that are equally damning,” she said. “So if there are court cases, let those get the proper space in front of a judge and a general.”

CBC Chair Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said she discussed the political realities with Cherfilus-McCormick and what course of action might best serve her, emphasizing that while the conversation reflected input from other members, she was speaking personally rather than on behalf of the caucus.

“We knew that the sentencing phase of this was coming up,” Clarke said. “And the idea was, Listen, we know how much you love being a member. Your well being is most important.’”

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), who chairs the CBC’s political arm, also expressed frustration that the expulsion push was fueled by partisanship. He accused Republican leadership of only accepting former Rep. Tony Gonzales’s resignation until Eric Swalwell stepped down.

“I hope that there’s one standard, which is really important for me,” Meeks added.

Hakeem Jeffries told reporters that Cherfilus-McCormick made the right decision on behalf of constituents to resign and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

“House Democratic leadership will work with her staff to ensure that the needs of the people in her congressional district are met during this transition.”

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● ● ○

IMMIGRATION

Democrats force rare hearing on ICE conduct, DHS shutdown

House Homeland Security Committee Democrats will hold a rare “minority day” hearing this afternoon to press the Trump administration over its mass deportation policies and the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown, after Republicans declined to call key agency officials to testify.

Democrats used House rules to compel invitations to White House officials Stephen Miller and Tom Homan—the architects of the administration’s immigration crackdown—along with several U.S. citizens who allege they were shot, detained or otherwise mistreated by ICE and CBP.

The hearing, a continuation of a late-March session, is expected to feature some of the first on-the-record testimony from those individuals as Democrats seek to highlight the human impact of enforcement actions and force public accountability from administration officials.

Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), a member of the committee, told me she expects Republicans to spend the hearing defending ICE’s funding with what she described as misleading arguments, while overlooking what she called the agency’s harmful treatment of U.S. citizens.

“What we’re going to continue to do, as we’ve been doing in every committee hearing, is to continue to talk about the cruelty that ICE has forced on to the American people, all of the things that they have been doing across the country that we see with our own eyes, in broad daylight,” she said. “And I think it’s important that we have these reforms and show the American people why we need these reforms.”

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), another Homeland Security Democrat, said it’s still unclear which administration officials will appear, accusing Republicans of keeping Democrats in the dark about whether Stephen Miller or Tom Homan will testify. She added that two Chicago residents are expected to speak and suggested their experiences could refocus attention on earlier immigration enforcement actions that she said have been overshadowed in the broader national debate.

“I want to make sure that it is a space where their voices are heard, but it’s also not a place where we’re just reliving their trauma and we’reactually talking about what we’re going to do so that never happens again,” she told me. “Because I hate this whole thing of, like a charity thing, ‘Oh, put the poor people, put the Black people, put Latino people, to just talk about their their sad story.’”

Read more

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CAMPAIGNS

Virginia voters weigh redraw with House control at stake

Voters in Virginia will head to the polls today to decide whether to amend the commonwealth’s constitution to allow a one-time, mid-decade redraw of congressional maps before 2030 that could net Democrats up to four seats in November.

Several Democrats are bracing for a much tighter outcome than the landslide victory California enjoyed when voters approved a ballot measure to redraw its congressional maps to offset a Republican gerrymander in Texas.

“I think what you can tell from polling and from early vote, which is actually a better measure, I think the yes side will win narrowly,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told me. “But it’s going to be close.”

Rep. Susas Subramanyam (D-Va.) also expects a nail-biter.

“It’s going to be interesting,” he told me. “I think we’re going to win, though.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who campaigned in Virginia earlier this month with Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), accused Republicans of misleading voters to believe former President Barack Obama and Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) are opposed to the referendum.

“It’s going to be close because Virginia is a purple state, and Republicans have spent tens of millions of dollars to lie to the people in the Commonwealth of Virginia because they can’t defend their position.”

President Trump and Speaker Johnson teamed up for a tele-rally Monday night aimed at driving a “no” vote on the Virginia referendum.

Jeffries told me ahead of the event that he hoped the rally would be broadcast across the commonwealth because it would expose his position against what Democrats describe as a fair and aggressive response to Republican gerrymanders in Texas, North Carolina and Missouri.

“Donald Trump, up until this point, has been trying to hide his position. He’s been in the presidential witness protection program as it relates to the referendum in Virginia,” Jeffries said. “But he can’t hide anymore, and we’re urging everyone to vote yes to stop the MAGA power grab.”

Florida state Republicans are actively exploring redrawing their congressional maps to squeeze out two to three additional seats (with some early talk as high as five, although even some Republicans see that as aggressive. Gov. Ron DeSantis has already called for a special legislative session next week specifically to revisit the congressional map.

But as of now, lawmakers haven’t released a concrete proposal. The upcoming session is where that would take shape. And Florida’s “Fair Districts” rules and recent court fights limit how aggressively maps can be drawn purely for partisan gain—meaning any new map is almost certain to face challenges.

Jeffries told me his focus was on Virginia, and then Democrats would turn their attention to the Sunshine State.

“We’re going to continue to fight back all the way through the finish line [today] in Virginia,” Jeffries said. “And then we’ll take the fight to Florida.”

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ETHICS WATCH

House Democrats brace for ethics fallout in Cherfilus-McCormick case

Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Monday that House Democrats will convene as a caucus to weigh the punishment the House Ethics Committee is expected to recommend for Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), whom the panel found last month committed 25 violations tied to allegations she misused roughly $5 million in federal funds connected to her family business, routed money into her campaign through intermediaries, and violated campaign finance and disclosure rules.

The committee can recommend penalties ranging from a reprimand or censure to fines, corrective actions, or expulsion. Democratic sources tell me they expect the bipartisan panel to call for Cherfilus-McCormick’s removal from office.

“We will proceed in a manner consistent with these types of ethics matters, which is to always, and at all times, follow the facts and apply the relevant law without fear or favor,” Jeffries said. “We’ll have a conversation as a caucus in the aftermath of the recommendation, which we anticipate will be bipartisan from the Ethics Committee.”

The proceeding is expected to function less like the penalty phase of a trial. Committee counsel and the congresswoman’s legal team will present arguments, written submissions and supporting materials—such as letters from community and religious leaders, including the president of the Palm Beach County Democratic Black Caucus, several religious and local leaders and the president of Women of Veterans Affairs.

House Republicans expected to file a resolution to expel Cherfilus-McCormick after the Ethics Committee releases its recommendation, regardless of the discipline it proposes. Expulsion requires a two-thirds vote of the full House (288 members with full attendance).

Former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is the most recent member expelled from the House, after members removed him in December 2023 following a blistering Ethics Committee report that found substantial evidence of wrongdoing. Santos was sentenced last April to just over 7 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft. In October 2025, Trump commuted his sentence, leading to his early release after serving only a few months.

A report cited a source claiming Cherfilus-McCormick sought a Trump pardon at a White House Christmas party—but her office denies it, and the allegation remains unverified.

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● ● ○

ECONOMY

Powell probe clouds Warsh hearing as Tillis threatens delay

Sen. Thom Tillis is expected to use much of his time at Kevin Warsh’s Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing this morning not to question the nominee, but to explain why he plans to block the Federal Reserve pick from advancing out of committee.

Tillis has said he will block Warsh’s nomination until a Justice Department investigation into current Fed Chair Jerome Powell is resolved. The senator is among a small group of Republicans who argue the probe risks politicizing the Fed or being used to pressure monetary policy, so they don’t want to move forward with a new chair under those conditions. And since Republicans have only a narrow majority, Tillis’s opposition can stall the nomination before it ever reaches the floor.

“I’m not going to spend much time talking to Kevin,” Tillis told reporters on Monday. “I’m going to start talking about what a bogus investigation Powell is subject to.”

The Justice Department is examining a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the Fed’s D.C. headquarters and whether Powell gave false or misleading testimony to Congress about the project’s cost, scope, and features. Powell and many economists argue the probe is part of a broader push by Donald Trump to pressure the Fed to cut interest rates or step aside. No charges have been filed, and a federal judge has already questioned whether there’s any evidence of a crime at all.

“The problem I have has nothing to do with the nom. It has to do with the process that we’ve got to get cleaned up,” Tillis said. “And what a shame. If the investigation wasn’t happening, this nominee would be going through in no time. And hopefully we can still clear the gates to where that still happens for him.”

Tillis told reporters that he expects the hearing to be acrimonious due to Democratic opposition to Warsh.

Democrats are lining up a transparency-and-ethics attack with aggressive questioning about Warsh’s undisclosed or complex financial holdings, potential conflicts of interest and whether Warsh can act independently of Trump. Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and others have already argued his disclosures are incomplete and raise concerns about entanglements and oversight gaps.

“It’s going to be a shirts-and-skins exercise,” Tillis said. “But I think that the Republicans should rightfully be very positive about his nomination. He’s a great nominee.”

Powell’s term expires May 15, creating a hard deadline for confirmation or a messy interim arrangement.

Read more

○ ● ● ●

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Peace talks in doubt as Iran tensions spike

Vice President JD Vance is expected to arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, today alongside Jared Kushner and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for a second round of peace talks, though Iranian state media said Sunday that Tehran does not plan to participate, citing U.S. demands and the ongoing naval blockade.

The talks come amid rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has been intermittently disrupted and Iranian vessels have reportedly fired near commercial tankers.

President Donald Trump said U.S. forces seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that allegedly attempted to bypass the blockade, a claim that would mark a significant escalation.

The White House has vowed to maintain the blockade until a deal is reached, while Iran calls it a violation of a fragile ceasefire and is demanding sanctions relief and access to frozen assets, with major disagreements still centered on Tehran’s uranium enrichment program.

These developments are unfolding as a fragile ceasefire has begun to fray, with clashes around the Strait of Hormuz and both sides accusing the other of violations, following an initial round of negotiations that ended without a breakthrough over sanctions relief and Iran’s nuclear program.

A new NBC News poll shows foreign policy is a liability for the president. 68% disapprove of how he’s handling the Iran conflict. And 61% oppose further military action, while the cost of living remains voters’ top economic concern—and his biggest weakness.

“As a direct result of the costly and reckless Republican war of choice, gas prices have skyrocketed, putting more cost pressure on working-class Americans, everyday Americans and middle-class Americans. Enough,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters last Thursday. “Donald Trump and Republicans have failed the American people.”

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LOOKING AHEAD

What else I’m watching

DHS shutdown week 10: The DHS shutdown has entered its tenth week, extending the record for the longest funding lapse in American history. The House GOP still refuses to pass the Senate deal to reopen most of the agency while funding the ICE and CBP through the filibuster-proof reconciliation process.

Senate reconciliation 2.0 budget resolution: The Senate is expected to vote this week on the budget resolution, the essential non-binding framework passed by both houses of Congress that initiates the reconciliation process.

The Senate Budget Committee is expected to skip a markup before it goes to the floor, stripping members of a key step in the process that gives members a chance to debate, amend and formally advance the reconciliation instructions.

“Look, what they’re doing is an end-run around the entire appropriations process because they want to fund Donald Trump’s out-of-control, lawless ICE without any reforms,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committees, told me. “They want to give them a complete blank check, even after they shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.”

While bypassing the markup is unusual, it’s not unheard of and is an acknowledgment of the tight deadline Republican leaders are under to enact a final bill before Trump’s June 1 deadline—seven weeks from today.

A marathon voting session known as a “vote-a-rama” will occur in the Senate before the final passage of the budget resolution. Senators can offer an unlimited number of amendments after the 50 hours of statutory debate time have expired. Each amendment is typically allowed only 30 to 60 seconds of explanation per side, followed by a 10-minute roll call vote.

The session continues until all pending amendments are disposed of or no more are offered, often lasting throughout the night. While most amendments to a resolution are non-binding, they are used by the minority party to force difficult political votes on the record.

FISA 702 negotiations: Congressional Republican leaders have 10 days until another FISA 702 cliff could jeopardize the federal government’s authority to collect foreign intelligence without a warrant.

After the House failed to pass a five-year compromise with modest reforms or a clean 18-month extension early Friday morning, it passed a two-week continuation of the status quo to allow for further negotiations on a long-term solution. The Senate moved quickly to pass the measure hours later.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) acknowledged uncertainty about what the House could deliver and suggested the Senate may need to shape the outcome if the lower chamber remains stuck. This could look like senators drafting or refining the eventual compromise, or at a minimum, setting the terms the House has to react to.

As I reported in Sunday’s Sunset, House Democrats secured a commitment from Republican leadership to release the results of ongoing FISA 702 negotiations at least 72 hours before any floor vote.

SCM Ethics sanctions hearing: The House Ethics Committee will meet on Tuesday to decide what punishment to recommend to the House for Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), who was found guilty by the panel last month of 25 violations centered on allegations she misused roughly $5 million in federal funds tied to her family business, funneled money into her campaign through intermediaries and broke campaign finance and disclosure rules.

The sanctions spectrum is wide and increases with the intent, scale and abuse of office. The committee can recommend anything from a reprimand or a censure to fines and corrective actions or expulsion.

House Republicans are expected to file a resolution to expel Cherfilus-McCormick after the Ethics Committee releases its recommendation. A few Democrats have already signaled they would support it. But expulsion is rare and requires a two-thirds vote of the full House (288 members, assuming Rep.-elect Analilia Mejia (D-N.J.) is sworn in this evening).

“We await the recommendation that the Ethics Committee will make in a bipartisan way as they’ve done up until this point,” Hakeem Jeffries told me. “And then the Congress as a whole is going to have to make a decision as to how to implement the most appropriate punishment.”

Jeffries declined to disclose whether he has spoken to Cherfilus-McCormick or intends to do so before the hearing.

VA redistricting referendum: Voters in Virginia will decide on Tuesday whether to amend the commonwealth’s constitution to allow a one-time, mid-decade redraw of congressional maps before 2030.

If approved, the Democratic-controlled legislature could replace the current map with a new one for upcoming elections, then revert to the normal bipartisan system after 2030. The proposed map could shift Virginia from a roughly 6–5 split to a 10–1 Democratic split.

Normally, maps only change after the census—so this is a break from the standard cycle. But Democrats argue the referendum is a fair and aggressive response to GOP mid-decade gerrymandering in states like Texas, North Carolina and Missouri. (Republicans call it a power grab that overturns the bipartisan redistricting system voters approved in 2020.)

“There’s a lot of energy behind the effort to make sure that we stop the MAGA power grab,” Jeffries told reporters. “We’re not going to take our foot off the gas pedal. We’ee going to keep marching forward to make the case to the American people.”

FY27 approps hearings: The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will resume hearings on the Trump administration’s 2027 budget request.

The House Approps Interior subcommittee will hear from Secretary Doug Burgum on Tuesday and the Commerce-Science-Justice panel from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday. The full committee will mark up the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Financial Services and General Government bills on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Senate Approps subcommittees will hold hearings on the budget requests for Interior, FSGG, USDA and the Department of Energy.

The Warsh hearing: Kevin Warsh’s confirmation hearing to become Federal Reserve Chair is scheduled for Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee. If confirmed, Warsh is expected to advocate for more aggressive rate cuts and structural reforms at the Fed.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has said he will block the nomination unless a Justice Department probe involving Fed Chair Jerome Powell is resolved. Because the committee is closely divided, that single defection can stall the nomination entirely—and Leader Thune has acknowledged that Warsh likely can’t advance without him. Powell’s term expires May 15, creating a hard deadline for confirmation or a messy interim arrangement.

Democrats are lining up a transparency and ethics attack on undisclosed or complex financial holdings, potential conflicts of interest and whether Warsh can act independently of Trump. As I reported on Friday, Senate Banking Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Committee Democrats have already argued his disclosures are incomplete and raise concerns about entanglements and oversight gaps.

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Happenings

All times Eastern

The House is in at noon and will vote at 6:30 p.m. on a series of suspension bills, including measures to extend FirstNet, modernize emergency alerts and 9-1-1 oversight, and accelerate and tighten accountability for broadband deployment.

The Senate is in at 3:30 p.m. and will vote at 5:30 p.m. to confirm Andrew Davis to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas.

The Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces will hold a hearing at 3:30 p.m. on the Department of Energy’s atomic energy defense activities and the Defense Department’s nuclear weapons program in reviews of the Pentagon’s 2027 defense authorization request.

The House Rules Committee will meet at 4 p.m. to prepare several bills for floor consideration this week.

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● ● ● ○

Read All About It

“California’s blue armageddon” by Mark Leibovich: “One of the most liberal states in the country can’t find a Democrat to lead it.”

“America’s Next Moon Mission Depends on Elon Musk, for Better or Worse” by Anna Rogers: “The government, unwisely, has ‘concentrated immense power in the hands of a single individual.’”

“Students are speeding through their online degrees in weeks, alarming educators” by Todd Wallack: “Some online colleges allow students to take unlimited courses on their own time, leading to quick degrees and worries about devaluing credentials.”

Read more

First Things First

Mejia wins New Jersey special runoff: Rep.-elect Analilia Mejia (D-N.J.) on Thursday night won the special election to fill the seat vacated by Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.). Mejia, a progressive labor organizer and political strategist who co-led the Center for Popular Democracy, worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, and served in the Biden-era Department of Labor, defeated Republican nominee Joe Hathaway in a race the AP called just seven minutes after the polls closed. (She will face Hathaway again in November for the chance to serve a full term.) When Mejia is sworn in, she will shrink Speaker Johnson’s vote margin on party-line bills from two to one, following the recent addition of Rep. Clay Fuller (R-Ga.).

Warren, Senate Banking Dems press Scott to delay Warsh hearing: Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led all 10 Committee Democrats on Thursday morning in a letter to Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) calling for the delay of next week’s nomination proceedings for Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s nominee to serve as the next Federal Reserve Chair, until the pretextual investigations into Chair Jerome Powell and Governor Lisa Cook are closed. They called for the Committee to instead hold a public hearing to assess President Trump’s involvement in directing these criminal investigations. After meeting with Warsh, Warren told reporters that her concerns about the nominee had deepened, citing his failure to disclose over $100 million in assets, his unexplained appearance in Epstein-related records, and an FBI background review that she said did not address either issue.

How a House GOP revolt sank Johnson’s FISA 702 vote

A handful of House conservatives delivered Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) a stunning rebuke early this morning, with a dozen Republicans rejecting a five-year package of reforms to the government’s warrantless foreign surveillance authority—known as Section 702—before 20 GOP lawmakers tanked a procedural vote to even debate a clean 18-month extension of those powers.

The episode marked a striking collapse—even for Johnson, who has already seen multiple rules fail under his speakership and several more come perilously close. After canceling and delaying votes this week to mediate between the House Freedom Caucus, which demanded stronger privacy protections, and the White House, which pushed for a clean, longer-term extension, he secured neither. Instead, the House passed a two-week extension of existing Section 702 authorities by unanimous consent before adjourning until Monday—buying Johnson time to regroup after a bruising night on the floor.

“Late-night votes never go well. People are punchy. That was tonight,” a House Democrat texted me as they left the floor just after 2 a.m. “We came back to vote down a bill we all knew was going to fail. This speaker cannot count.”

Not the usual GOP policy fight

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows the U.S. government to collect communications of foreign nationals abroad without warrants, but it often captures data on Americans in contact with those noncitizens.

The Freedom Caucus and civil libertarians from both parties wanted structural reforms, especially a warrant requirement for queries of U.S. citizens. The tremendous trust gap that exists between House Democrats and the Trump administration, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, and the president himself, heightened the sensitivity against a straightforward continuation of the status quo without stricter guardrails.

“Sometimes it’s about the policy,” a House Democrat told me. Sometimes it’s about the people implementing the policy. This is one of those times.”

With Johnson facing a math problem with the rule on Wednesday afternoon, he canceled the vote series that had been scheduled for that time. He scrapped two additional afternoon series on Thursday amid ongoing talks among administration officials, House GOP leadership and the holdouts.

Just before midnight, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office released text of the manager’s amendment to the unworkable extension and announced members would reconvene to debate the measure before advancing it to final passage.

The amendment extended Section 702 through April 2031—a major shift, given that leadership and the White House were seeking a shorter-term duration. It required a warrant to intentionally target a U.S. person’s communication and limited FBI “backdoor searches” to address the long-running abuse complaints. The bill also strengthened criminal penalties to include fines and prison time for unauthorized disclosure of 702 data, improper queries of U.S. persons and false statements to the FISA court. There was also a new structure around the FBI’s use of the provision and several explicit oversight provisions to try to claw back congressional visibility.

But House Democrats and several hardliners almost immediately expressed dissatisfaction with the proposal, specifically the warrant provision, which multiple people told me applied to targeting, not necessarily all database searches. In other words, the government can still act without a warrant if the person is a foreign agent, tied to a crime, or under other existing FISA authorities. This was a nonstarter for many members of the same group Johnson had been bargaining with for days. And within hours, the House had resumed the gridlock the speaker thought he had resolved.

To be clear, this debate wasn’t just a typical right-flank negotiation over how far to push policy. It reflected the fundamental divide over the surveillance authority itself. And instead of working to narrow that gap early, Johnson has let it spill into a late-stage scramble, canceling and postponing votes before trying again in the middle of the night.

“Nancy Pelosi would have never done this,” a House Democratic aide texted me, referring

The Senate path forward

Most senators went home for the weekend after the final vote of the week on Thursday afternoon, a signal of the little confidence they had that their GOP colleagues would make enough progress on a resolution to justify sticking around on a scheduled fly-out day.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told me that the sooner the Senate received the bill from the House, the more likely it would be to process it quickly and readily. He was hesitant to take any options off the table, including a short-term funding patch if Johnson and the White House were unable to reach a deal with the Freedom Caucus.

But the South Dakota Republican acknowledged that almost any option they chose would require a time agreement to bypass the Senate’s traditional rules that allow for lengthy, unlimited speeches.

“At some point, it’s going to be a consent exercise. We’re going to need some cooperation to get it done before things go dark on the 20th,” Thune said. “I hope we have that level of cooperation, but we aren’t going to know that for sure until the House processes and sends it to us.”

The Senate will meet this morning to formally receive the bill. Thune could possibly set up the first procedural vote if no senators object on the floor.

It’s worth noting the House approved a significant piece of must-pass legislation with sweeping national security implications in the dark of night, weeks after conservatives slammed senators for passing a bipartisan deal to fund DHS, minus ICE and CBP. This place is full of ironies, I tell you.

Happenings

All times Eastern

The House is out.

The Senate is in at 10 a.m.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies will hold a markup at 8 a.m. on the FY27 MilCon-VA funding bill.

The House Education and Workforce Committee will hold a hearing at 9 a.m. with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on HHS’s policies and priorities.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government will hold a markup of the FY27 FSGG funding bill.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense will hold a budget hearing at 9:30 a.m. in the National Guard and Reserve Forces.

Editor’s note: After a 2 a.m. adjournment and canceled floor votes, Friday’s committee schedule remains in flux. As of publication, these hearings and markups are still on the books.

● ● ● ● ○

Read All About It

“It’s not just Iran. Trump is flailing on multiple fronts” by Jonathan Lemire: “The president is on a losing streak, and even some of his aides are dismayed by his choices.”

“Trump picked the wrong pope to bully” by Ed Kilgore: “Pope Leo is very popular, even among Catholic conservatives who strongly disliked his predecessor.”

“What brought down Eric Swalwell” by Jon Allsop: “How the attention economy produced a moment of congressional reckoning.”

Read more

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! It’s Thursday morning. Thank you for waking up to Congress Nerd Sunrise. Shout out to my girl A’ja Wilson, who signed a new deal with the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday in the largest contract in the league’s 30-year history. Wilson’s contract is one of the first major contracts under the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, which dramatically raised salaries and tied them more directly to league revenue—a structural shift that made a deal like this possible.

When I saw the news, I flashed back to my interview with Wilson in 2024 at the White House during the Aces’ visit after their second championship. She expressed her gratitude for the increased visibility of the gender pay gap, but the star forward encouraged fans and decision-makers to continue the conversation beyond a few news cycles.

“I hope that it’s not just a trend that just sounds good right now and people just want to talk about it,” Wilson, who also lists an Olympic gold medal and New York Times bestseller on her résumé, said. “I would much rather people be about it and invest and support. At the end of the day, put your money where your mouth is and really try to make those changes.” Looks like the league took heed and her pockets are much deeper because of it.

📌 New this morning: RFK Jr. heads to Capitol Hill for high-stakes hearings … How Pressley persuaded Republicans to join her Haiti TPS discharge petition

📬 Get in touch: michael@onceuponahill.com

○ ● ● ● ●

FIRST THINGS FIRST

The path to FISA reauthorization still looks murky: House Republican leaders on Wednesday morning canceled a procedural vote to set up debate and final passage on an extension of the Section 702 spy powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after conservative hardliners threatened to prevent the measure from floor consideration.

The White House and GOP leadership, which are pushing for a clean 18-month extension of the government’s authority to collect foreign intelligence by surveilling non-Americans abroad without a warrant, spent the day negotiating with the holdouts who are seeking new limits on surveillance, including requiring a warrant before searching intelligence databases for Americans’ communications that are incidentally collected under the program. It remains to be seen whether an agreement will emerge before Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reattempts the rule vote. 702 expires on Monday night, leaving the Senate little time to process whatever solution Johnson can pass in the House.

Senate Dems deliver firm rebuke of Israel: 80% of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted on Wednesday night to block arms sales to Israel. The two votes were forced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who said after that they signal a growing willingness among Senate Democrats to break with the long-standing norm of largely unconditional U.S. military support for Israel and reflect a shift toward greater scrutiny of how that aid is used under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a changing political dynamic inside the party.

40 Democrats voted against the sale of $151.8 million in 1,000-pound bombs that human rights groups say have been used in strikes that resulted in civilian casualties, including in densely populated areas of Gaza and Beirut and 36 opposed $295 million in bulldozers commonly used by the Israeli military in demolition operations in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank. As I reported in Wednesday’s Sunset, the proposed transfers have drawn scrutiny under the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act, which set conditions on U.S. military assistance.

Meeks’ Iran WPR could go either way: House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told me Wednesday afternoon that he was still working to nail down the final votes for his War Powers Resolution to limit President Donald Trump’s military authority in Iran. He said the outcome of today’s vote remains uncertain, as several Republicans have yet to lock in their positions, leaving it effectively a toss-up. The Senate failed for the fourth time to begin debate on a separate War Powers Resolution in a 47–52 tally.

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HEALTH CARE

RFK Jr. heads to Capitol Hill for high-stakes hearings

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will face lawmakers in two separate and highly anticipated hearings this morning, where he’s expected to face intense scrutiny of his leadership of the principal federal agency responsible for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services.

RFK Jr. will first appear before the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, before testifying this afternoon in front of the House Appropriations panel responsible for funding his agency.

The former environmental lawyer entered office as a polarizing figure who brought years of vaccine skepticism and anti-establishment politics into a job traditionally grounded in scientific consensus, then used the office to remake federal health policy in ways critics say undermine that consensus.

Since taking over, he has moved to narrow vaccine recommendations, replaced the CDC’s outside vaccine advisers with picks seen as more aligned with his views, and presided over deep staffing cuts and restructuring across the federal health bureaucracy. Those moves have drawn lawsuits, alarm from mainstream medical groups and criticism from former public health officials, while supporters see him as challenging a public health establishment they no longer trust.

Eden Giagnorio, the top spokesperson at 314 Action, an advocacy group focused on recruiting, training, and electing Democrats with backgrounds in science to public office, told me she’d like to see members challenge RFK Jr. about his changes to the vaccine schedule and the vacancies in key positions within the department.

“Children are dying. Measles outbreaks are continuing to spread. Voters across the political spectrum are concerned about this,” she said. “We also don’t have a CDC director or Surgeon General. We haven’t for over a year now. He needs to answer for that, and the deeper cuts he’s making to [the National Institutes of Health].”

314 Action Executive Director Eric Polyak said the administration’s disinvestment in scientific research is salient to everyday Americans, who tend to support this funding because they see it as driving medical breakthroughs, economic growth and national security while improving quality of life.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets some blowback from Republican members too on some of the cuts to research,” he told me. “We’ve already seen some of that already with the NIH budget proposal and such.”

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IMMIGRATION

How Pressley persuaded Republicans to join her Haiti TPS discharge petition

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) is on the verge of securing a hard-won victory for the immigrants’ rights movement ahead of a vote today on a bill to extend Temporary Protected Status for Haiti through early 2029. The three-term congresswoman led a discharge petition to force a vote on the issue and secured the support of all Democrats, six Republicans and an independent to clear the final procedural hurdle on Wednesday afternoon.

Ahead of the vote, Pressley credited her doggedness and the dedication of her staff, who developed what she described as a robust whip strategy and storytelling campaign.

“It’s the anatomy of activism,” she told me. “Because it’s not just about the message, it’s about the most effective messengers for members. And we built a coalition of partners in labor, immigrants, rights advocates, and we’re just leaving nothing to chance here.”

Supporters of extending Haitian TPS argue that ongoing violence, political instability and humanitarian crises in the Caribbean nation make it unsafe for people to return, while TPS allows them to live and work in the U.S. until conditions improve.

Pressley said that without TPS, hundreds of thousands could lose legal status and work authorization, face possible deportation and disrupt U.S. communities and industries that rely on their labor.

“This will separate families and decimate our economy, and I’m very grateful for the Republicans. Again, these are not partisan issues,” she said. “I’m just appealing to people of conscience to not only keep families together, but to do what’s in the best interest of our workforce and our economy. This is the first encouraging step forward and bright spot in a long time on anything in the immigration space.”

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Happenings

All times Eastern

Floor action

The House is in at 10 a.m. and will vote at 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the FISA reauthorization rule, the Haiti TPS extension bill, the Meeks Iran War Powers Resolution, three Clean Air Act deregulatory measures and a nonbinding resolution expressing support for the tax policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The Senate is in at 10 a.m. and will vote at 11 a.m. on a Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution to

overturn a 20-year, 225,000-acre mining ban near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and 1:45 p.m. to limit debate on the nomination of Andrew Davis to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas.

Committee hearings

The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing at 9 a.m. with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy

and Water Development, and Related Agencies will hold a budget hearing at 10 a.m. with the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Department of Homeland Security will hold a budget hearing at 10 a.m. on CBP, ICE and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense will hold a budget hearing at 10 a.m. on the U.S. Army.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on promoting access to credit for everyday Americans.

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy will hold a hearing on the FY27 Energy Department budget.

The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on President Trump’s FY27 budget proposal.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on how competition can lower drug prices.

The House Administration Committee will hold an oversight hearing at 10:15 a.m. with secretaries of state on voter list maintenance and eligibility verification.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies will hold a budget hearing at 10:30 a.m. on the USDA.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing at 11 a.m. on the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

The House China Competition Committee will hold a hearing at 11 a.m. on China’s campaign to steal America’s AI edge.

The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere will hold a hearing at 2 p.m. on Latin America following Nicolás Maduro’s fall.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Department of Homeland Security will hold a budget hearing at 2 p.m. on CISA, TSA, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Secret Service and FEMA.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight will hold a hearing at 2 p.m. on sanctuary policies.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing at 4 p.m. on the U.S. Forest Service.

News events

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and members of the Texas congressional delegation will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. on immigration enforcement in Big Bend National Park.

Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) will hold a press conference at 12 p.m. on guaranteed paid vacation for workers.

The House Oversight Subcommittees on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs & Military and Foreign Affairs will hold a roundtable at 2 p.m. on artificial intelligence.

Reps. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.) and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) will hold a press conference at 2:15 p.m. on Black maternal health.

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Read All About It

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