Friday, May 16 | By Alexis Simendinger & Kristina Karisch |
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| ▪ House GOP returns to budget drawing board ▪ Justices wrestle with lower courts, executive power ▪ Trump hails Middle East deals amid battles at home ▪ Putin shows no interest in ceasefire |
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©️ Associated Press | Patrick Semansky |
Budget forecast: Skating on thin ice |
Can House Republicans pass their massive, "big, beautiful" budget bill? Or even get the legislation out of the Budget Committee? Republicans in the lower chamber have for weeks been crafting one big legislative package to advance President Trump's sweeping legislative agenda. But a fractious conference with varying priorities has hampered the bill's markup process, raising questions about whether it can pass if Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) ushers in a floor vote as planned next week. The massive package pairs major Trump priorities like an extension of tax cuts with reforms to Medicaid and food assistance programs, as well as other measures that were finalized in marathon committee markups this week. The big sticking points: taxes, potential cuts to Medicaid, clean energy tax credits and SALT, or the state and local tax deduction. Representatives of the varying factions of the House GOP huddled in and around Johnson's office Thursday to discuss the details, and to encourage a key group of ultraconservative holdouts to support the package. ▪ The New York Times: Here's what's in the reconciliation package. ▪ The Hill: The Speaker on Thursday said changes will be made to the reconciliation measure to appease SALT lawmakers who want a larger deduction than $30,000 and fiscal conservatives who want to see more offsets and deeper cuts. ▪ Politico: "No way to run a two-car parade let alone the House": Coastal Republicans express anger at red-state leaders who won't help them with SALT deductions. ▪ The Hill: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said House leaders will try to persuade conservatives to support the reconciliation measure by accelerating when Medicaid work requirements would begin. The original markup called for the changes to take effect in 2029, after Trump left office. The bill will face its next major test today during a House Budget Committee vote. Despite hard-line opposition, Johnson said the panel not only will meet today to compile the various pieces of Trump's domestic agenda, but he predicted it will pass. "We're having a Budget Committee meeting tomorrow. That's the plan," Johnson told reporters on Thursday. "It'll get out of Budget. I'm confident." Two hurdles on Johnson's path? Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) — both members of the Budget Committee — who told the Speaker on Thursday evening that they intend to vote no on the legislation in its current form. "Chip and I are voting against it. And all the Democrats are going to vote against it," Norman said afterward. "You've got to have a good product, and the deficit — we're not here to add to the deficit. And this does nothing to do that." Given the partisan makeup of the Budget Committee — and an absence from Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) — those two defections would be enough to block the bill. And others are likely to join the holdouts. Trump has yet to exert much pressure on the debate. Johnson said he's talked with the president to update him on negotiations but has not asked for his help in lobbying the holdouts. "I've committed to working through the weekend on [the package]," Johnson told reporters, working to ready the bill so it can head to the floor. He said he was optimistic that the bill could still pass by his Memorial Day target, but significant hurdles remain. "It's going to come up in Rules on Monday, and we'll be voting on it next week," House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said Thursday. ▪ The Hill: Opponents of school choice are raising concerns as House Republicans attempt to push legislation through their budget bill to create scholarships parents can use to send their students to private schools, available in all 50 states. Those opposed fear the damage the measure could do to public schools and disadvantaged students. ▪ The Hill: Congressional Republicans' phase-out of the tax credits for climate-friendly energy sources are expected to decimate the incentives and raise U.S. emissions. Even if the House passes its "big, beautiful bill" by Johnson's Memorial Day deadline, there's another hurdle to consider. GOP Senators are making clear the emerging package won't fly as written when it reaches them. Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told NBC News that what's coming out of House committees cannot pass the Senate as it currently stands. "No. We'll make changes," Hoeven said. "We've been talking with the House and there's a lot of things we agree on. … But there'll be changes in a number of areas." |
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Smart Take
with Blake Burman |
| As President Trump was abroad, many of his Cabinet members, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, faced congressional questions about their agencies' budgets. I asked Zeldin how he defends cuts, given he has been on the other side as a former member of Congress trying to bring home money for his district. "We have to operate as efficiently as possible. Since I came into office, I've canceled $22 billion worth of grants," Zeldin told me. "We're proud of the work we are doing," he added. While you might not be hearing about the Department of Government Efficiency as much as you used to, the prospects of steep agency cuts are still very much alive. |
Burman hosts "The Hill" weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation. |
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Protect Community Banks from Credit Card Mandates |
The Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Mandates will raise costs, limit credit access, and hurt local financial institutions. Carve-outs don't work. Small banks lose while corporate megastores cash in. Learn more. |
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©️ Associated Press | Jacquelyn Martin |
Supreme Court justices on Thursday appeared torn over possible options before the term's end to decide two seismic questions tied to lower court authority to block executive actions from coast to coast, and the president's power to alter birthright citizenship on his own. Trump wants the justices to support his argument that district judges do not have authority to temporarily block his executive power nationwide. The separate question justices are mulling is how to tackle Trump's January executive order challenging the Constitution's 14th Amendment and automatic birthright citizenship. On Thursday, justices appeared to wrestle with ways they could tackle two questions: the limits of lower court opinions when it comes to blocking presidential actions for the whole country, and the limits of presidential say-so over a right spelled out in the Constitution. The justices appeared to hunt during oral arguments for middle ground, perhaps by issuing guidance that would allow temporary nationwide injunctions but only for some kinds of cases, or by requesting more briefing on the merits of the underlying executive order. Justices focused on technical legal questions related to whether other legal pathways would provide the same practical effect of a nationwide injunction. Trump, traveling in the Middle East, messaged Supreme Court justices on Truth Social overnight not to "fall for the games" played by "Radical Left SleazeBags," whom he accused of "PLAYING THE REF" in lower courts. ▪ The Hill: The court's decision, likely to arrive by June or early July, is poised to impact Trump's executive orders by potentially removing a key tool that plaintiffs have employed to try to halt his administration's actions through dozens of legal challenges. ▪ The Hill: Here are five takeaways from Thursday's high court arguments dealing with birthright citizenship. Meanwhile, the president will return to Washington tonight from the Middle East after boosting Boeing's fortunes this week. Qatar Airways bought 160 wide-body jets in an agreement that will help revive the company's finances and create jobs in the U.S. The Hill's Niall Stanage in The Memo takes stock of the president's poll numbers and the outlook. Trump is juggling controversies abroad and at home, while House Republicans are relying on his political resilience to get his "big, beautiful bill" across the finish line as May comes to a close. |
- The House will meet Saturday at 10 a.m. The House Budget Committee at 9 a.m. is scheduled to mark up reconciliation legislation.
- The Senate will convene on Monday at 3 p.m.
- The president began his day in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and will be back at the White House tonight. In between, he participated in a U.S.-UAE Business Council roundtable in the morning local time at Abu Dhabi's Qasr Al Watan building before heading out for a tour of the Abrahamic Family House at midday. Trump will depart Abu Dhabi at 1:45 p.m. local time to return to the U.S. He is expected to arrive on the South Lawn before 11 p.m. ET.
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©️ Associated Press | Evgeniy Maloletka |
NYET: The Ukrainian and Russian officials are attending their first direct peace talks in years today in Turkey. The delegations spent much of Thursday in the same country but in different cities, pointing to the deep divide between the warring sides. After Russian President Vladimir Putin snubbed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by announcing he wouldn't attend the talks, hopes for substantive negotiations faded. Both sides have now confirmed they will send negotiators to Istanbul, but Rubio told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO ministers in Turkey that he isn't anticipating any "major breakthrough." Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that "nothing is gonna happen until Putin and I get together." "He wasn't gonna go … He wasn't going if I wasn't there," Trump said. "And I don't believe anything will happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we are gonna have to get it solved because too many people are dying." ▪ Time magazine: How Putin missed his shot at peace. ▪ The Washington Post: Russia is targeting Ukrainian hotels to discourage journalists, according to a new report. GAZA: Israeli forces intensified operations across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing more than 100 people, and pledged to continue bombings as Trump again suggested establishing a "freedom zone" in the enclave. The president said last week that he wants an end to the "brutal war" in Gaza and has skipped Israel in his Middle East tour. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to eradicate Hamas with a goal of holding more territory in Gaza and pushing the entire civilian population into a smaller area in the south. "There will be no in-and-out," Netanyahu said earlier this month. "We'll call up reserves to come, hold territory — we're not going to enter and then exit the area, only to carry out raids afterward." ▪ BBC: Rubio said the U.S. is "troubled" by the humanitarian situation in Gaza. ▪ Vox: The president casts himself as Israel's greatest defender, while cutting deals with its greatest enemies. |
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Protect Community Banks from Credit Card Mandates |
The Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Mandates will raise costs, limit credit access, and hurt local financial institutions. Carve-outs don't work. Small banks lose while corporate megastores cash in. Learn more. |
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©️ Associated Press | Alex Brandon
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IMMIGRATION: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her department requested 20,000 National Guard troops to help with mass deportations. The New York Times reported Pentagon lawyers are reviewing the request, along with "interior immigration enforcement." It is unknown if National Guard members would be involved in rounding up and arresting individuals for deportation or would provide transportation or security to other federal officials and law enforcers. 🔎Separately, Noem drew public attention on Thursday to a photograph of found beach shells posted by former FBI Director James Comey. The secretary said the FBI and Secret Service are investigating the meaning and intent of the Instagram posting, which she alleges are a "threat" of "assassination" aimed at Trump. Comey denied a photo of shells included an ominous intent and removed the post. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Fox News that Comey's denials that he recognized a slogan threatening "a hit" on the president are "ridiculous and insane." Gabbard said Comey should be "put behind bars for this." 🛫The Hill: Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is budgeting $50 million as a new line item on the Coast Guard's ledger for a new DHS jet. 🚨The Hill: Trump's firing of the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has unsettled Republican senators who view FEMA's work as valuable in states during natural disasters. The official hurricane season begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30. Meanwhile, the new acting head of FEMA, David Richardson, says the agency will shift more recovery costs to states for "disaster season." 🪖Parade price tag: $25 million to $45 million is the estimated cost of a military parade in the nation's capital next month favored by the president on his birthday. 🔎 The White House does not release transcripts of the vast majority of Trump's public remarks, as his predecessors did to preserve a complete, accurate and accessible historical record. Why? 🔄 Inflation could be more volatile in the years ahead, even as one metric showed a decline in prices, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday. The central bank will reevaluate how it sets and communicates monetary policy in light of economic shifts experienced during the past five years, he added. |
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- 26 hours and 33 failed amendment votes: This is Democrats' masterclass in resistance, by Karen Tumulty, columnist, The Washington Post.
- There's a darker reason Trump is going after those law firms, by Scott Cummings, guest essayist, The New York Times.
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©️ Associated Press | U.S. Navy |
And finally … 👏👏👏Congratulations to this week's Morning Report Quiz winners! Readers aced a puzzle drawn from news and history about U.S. airports and those who brave the skies. 🧩 Here's who went 4/4: Mark R. Williamson, Pam Manges, Chuck Schoenenberger, Richard E. Baznik, Lou Tisler, Jenessa Wagner, Peter John, Jess Elger, Michael McGinnis, Joe Atchue, John van Santen, Lynn Gardner, Sari Wisch, Rick Schmidtke, Larry Leiby, Phil Kirstein, Christopher A. Parker, Stan Wasser, Sol Brotman, Harry Strulovici, William Earl, Simon Faraco, Mark Roeddiger, Sawyer Walters, Linda L. Field, Tom Chabot, Alec Ross Stites, David Johnson, William D. Moore, William John, Stanton Kirk, Steve James, Brian Hogan, Terry Pflaumer, Carmine Petracca, Savannah Petracca and Luther Berg. They knew that America's busiest airport, as measured by passenger traffic, is Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International. Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey recently experienced telecommunications and radar outages and air traffic controller staff shortages. The answer we looked for was "all of the above." The main runway (of three) at Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., routinely handles more than 800 daily takeoffs and landings, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (cited by CNN). Former President George H.W. Bush, from our quiz menu, was the chief executive who was also a pilot. |
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