Trump reshuffles GOP priorities with gas-tax push and housing demands
Plus: Jen Kiggans under fire to resign and SCOTUS clears way for AL to erase majority-Black districts.
First Things First • In the span of a few hours on Monday, President Donald Trump once again demonstrated how quickly he can reorder the priorities of a Republican-controlled Congress around his own political instincts and legislative demands.
First came Trump’s endorsement of a federal gas-tax holiday amid mounting economic anxiety tied to the war in Iran, immediately prompting congressional Republicans like Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.) to announce forthcoming companion legislation.
Then, Trump publicly pressured the House to pass the Senate-backed 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act despite bipartisan negotiations already underway in the lower chamber to revise several contested Senate provisions that had stalled the bill for weeks.
Whether Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) ultimately moves the Senate bill unchanged or allows the House to continue working through its own version, the episode offered another vivid illustration of how Trump approaches a GOP-led Congress as a governing instrument expected to adapt in real time to his political priorities and timetable.
Ironically, congressional Democrats in March proposed suspending the 18.4-cent federal gas tax through the end of September, with legislation from Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in the Senate and Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) in the House.
“I’ve supported it for months. It should have been done months ago. I think we all need to come together in favor of suspending the gas tax. Everyone who supports it deserves credit for it. The president’s a little bit late to the party, but better late than never.”
When asked whether Democrats risk handing Republicans a political opening by opposing the proposal as Trump and congressional Republicans rally around a gas-tax holiday, Blumenthal defended his support for the legislation as a straightforward attempt to lower energy costs for consumers.
“I think Democrats have been very clear that we’re supporting reductions in energy prices using every means available. And I can’t speak for Democrats who may have objections to this bill. I’ve been supporting it because I think it’s the right thing to do.”
But as I reported in last night’s Sunset, a driver filling up a 15-gallon tank would save roughly $2.75 per trip if Congress fully suspended the tax and oil companies and retailers passed the entire savings through to consumers. So while a gas tax holiday would provide Americans with some relief, it probably wouldn’t be the kind of dramatic, wallet-changing relief politicians would market during a war-driven energy crunch. Democrats could also argue that the relief is too small to offset war-driven price spikes meaningfully and would benefit oil companies if savings are not fully passed through to consumers.
Not to mention, the federal gas tax helps fund the Highway Trust Fund, which finances roads, bridges and transit infrastructure. Suspending it without replacing the revenue would increase pressure on transportation funding at a moment when deficits are already ballooning due to the GOP megabill and wartime spending demands.
“I think right now, the best thing that can happen for gas prices is for the Strait [or Hormuz] to get opened up again, the shipping lines get opened up again. That’ll normalize gas prices as much as anything,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “Obviously, any time that you suspend the gas tax, that leaves a big hole in the Highway Trust Fund, which also has implications down the road. No pun intended.”
Democrats backing the proposal, meanwhile, have pushed back on concerns that a temporary suspension would cripple federal transportation funding.
“I’ve heard that objection,” Blumenthal said. “But there are other sources to provide money for the Highway Trust Fund, and there’s no immediate need for this source of revenue for it.”
Meanwhile, few lawmakers are as grateful as Thune for Trump’s backing of his chamber’s housing bill, which remains one of Congress’s last chances to meaningfully address the cost-of-living concerns that will be top of mind when voters head to the polls in six months.
“I think one thing we can do quickly is the House could pick up and pass the housing bill, which is designed to make housing more affordable,” Thune told reporters hours before Trump nudged the House to follow suit. “And I think that strikes at the very heart of the broader affordability issue.”
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Good Tuesday morning. Thank you for waking up with Congress Nerd Sunrise.
🗓️ The House is back tonight and will take suspension votes at 6:30 p.m. The Rules Committee will meet at 4 p.m. to prepare a slate of so-called law-and-order bills tied to police week and a 2027 funding bill for floor consideration.
The House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee will hear testimony this morning from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine before turning later today to the Navy and Marine Corps budget request.
The Senate will vote at 11:30 a.m. to confirm Kevin Warsh to be a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) were the only two Democrats to vote with Republicans on Monday to advance the nomination. A procedural vote to replace Jerome Powell as Fed Chair with Warsh will follow the confirmation vote. Then the Senate will recess until 2:15 p.m. for weekly policy lunches. Additional votes are possible during today’s session.
The Judiciary Committee postponed without explanation a markup of the immigration enforcement reconciliation bill, previously scheduled for 9 a.m. this morning.
Related: I reported in last night’s Sunset that Senate Democrats plan to make the proposed $1 billion tied to security upgrades for President Trump’s East Wing ballroom project a central line of attack against the bill, with Democratic leaders preparing Byrd Rule challenges and politically difficult vote-a-rama amendments designed to force uncomfortable GOP votes on costs and spending priorities.
President Trump will depart for China today and is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday ahead of a two-day series of meetings and ceremonial events with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump’s official schedule begins Thursday morning with a greeting ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, followed by a bilateral meeting with Xi. The two leaders will reconvene Thursday evening for a state banquet hosted by the Chinese president.
On Friday, Trump and Xi are slated to pose for a greeting-and-friendship photo before holding a bilateral tea and lunch in Beijing. Trump will then depart China and return to the White House later that day.
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Kiggans under fire to resign • Social media erupted on Monday afternoon after a Virginia radio host told Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) should keep his “cotton-picking hands” out of Virginia politics, a phrase widely viewed as a racist slur with roots in slavery-era language.
“That’s right. Ditto. Yes. Yes to that,” Kiggans responded before later saying she was agreeing only with the broader point about Jeffries staying out of Virginia politics and did not condone the language itself.
But by then, the backlash was in full force.
“Jen Kiggans heard a vile racist slur and agreed out loud—that’s who she is,” Chris Taylor, a spokesperson for the Congressional Black Caucus’s political arm, said in a statement. “We’re going to make sure her constituents know she condones this racist crap.”
CBC Chair Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), whose district neighbors Jeffries, and his two top lieutenants were among the Democrats who called on Kiggans to step down.
“First they gutted the Voting Rights Act. Now they are using brazenly racist language to attack Black leaders,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said. “[Jen Kiggans] should immediately apologize and resign.”
House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) called Kiggans’ agreement with the racist comments disqualifying for a member of Congress.
“Republicans are taking us backwards in every single way,” the number-three House Democrat said. “Rep. Kiggans must apologize then get the hell out of the House.”
Kiggans’ district, which encompasses the low-lying plains of southeastern Virginia with Black voters comprising nearly 25% of the population, is firmly on the CBCPAC’s House battlefield. Former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), who narrowly lost to Kiggans in 2022 after serving two terms in the House, is seeking the Democratic nomination in 2026.
SCOTUS clears way for AL to erase majority-Black districts • The Supreme Court on Monday overturned lower court rulings that required the state to maintain two majority-Black districts and ordered the case reconsidered under the Court’s new Louisiana v. Callais standard, handing Alabama Republicans another opening to redraw the state’s congressional map ahead of the midterms. Reps. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures are the delegation’s only Black and Democratic members.
The move marks the latest escalation in the post-Callais redistricting wars reshaping the House battlefield across the South. But as I reported in last night’s Sunset, Jeffries told his members in a letter Monday afternoon that they would still take control of the House in November because Republicans are defending one of the narrowest majorities in modern history in a political environment shaped by rising costs, backlash to the GOP’s agenda and what he described as growing public frustration with President Trump.
Related: Virginia Democrats asked the Supreme Court to reverse last week’s ruling from the Virginia Supreme Court invalidating the voter-approved congressional map adopted through last month’s referendum.
The Supreme Court also extended until late Thursday afternoon its administrative stay of a lower-court ruling that would have immediately reinstated in-person dispensing requirements for the abortion pill. The stay was set to expire today. The extension preserves nationwide access to mifepristone through mail delivery and pharmacy dispensing. Read more about the case in Monday morning’s Sunrise.