Thune casts doubt on Johnson’s latest SAVE strategy
Plus: Schumer launches anti-corruption push, Ossoff presses RFK Jr. over CDC cuts and Elizabeth Warren backs Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
👋🏾 HI, HEY, HELLO! Welcome back to Congress Nerd Daily. I hope today was everything for you.
My condolences to the families of 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, who the Defense Department this morning identified as the two service members killed in action during the Iranian missile and drone attack in Jordan over the weekend. Gonzales was from Carrollton, Texas, about 40 minutes from where I grew up, a reminder that losses like these are never as distant as they can sometimes seem.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump will attend the dignified transfer ceremony Tuesday evening at Dover Air Force Base. May their memories be a blessing.
THE LINEUP
Thune casts doubt on Johnson’s latest SAVE strategy
Schumer launches anti-corruption push
Ossoff presses RFK Jr. over CDC cuts
Elizabeth Warren backs Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan
THE LEAD
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) acknowledged this afternoon that Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) strategy of attaching the SAVE America Act to must-pass legislation in the House could complicate Senate Republicans’ efforts to clear their agenda before the August recess.
The top Senate Republican did not dispute that Johnson’s insistence on pairing the election bill with unrelated House-passed measures could make it harder to move legislation through a chamber where most bills still require 60 votes to advance.
“If it’s anything that they want to see become law, yeah,” Thune told me when asked whether the House strategy complicates the Senate’s work.
He said Republicans would continue looking for “all legislative windows” to advance the bill but acknowledged the chamber’s procedural limits.
“If it’s attached to something that we absolutely have to get done, and it’s attached in a way that can’t get 60 votes here in the Senate, then yeah, it’ll be a challenge.”
Thune’s comments underscore the balancing act Senate Republicans face as they try to satisfy President Trump and House conservatives while navigating a chamber where most legislation still requires 60 votes to advance. Even under unified Republican control of Washington, GOP leaders remain constrained by Senate rules that allow Democrats to block bills lacking bipartisan support…
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THE POWERS THAT BE
— SCHUMER LAUNCHES ANTI-CORRUPTION PUSH: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) launched a new Senate Democratic anti-corruption working group and released a report accusing President Trump of using the presidency for personal financial gain…
THE POLICY DESK
— OSSOFF PRESSES RFK JR. OVER CDC CUTS: Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the administration’s decision to end a CDC surveillance program tracking Cyclospora cayetanensis, the parasite behind the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak, arguing the move weakened the nation’s food safety infrastructure…
THE TRAIL
— DCCC HAULS IN $37.4 IN Q2: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $37.4 million during the second quarter, including $16.4 million in June, bringing its cycle-to-date fundraising to $198 million with $79 million cash on hand…