MORNING REPORT

May 18, 2026 | By Jared Gans and Colin Meyn

View Online | Sign up

PRESENTED BY

Listen and Subscribe:

In today's issue:

▪ Trump turns attention to Massie

▪ Cuba's drone threat debated

▪ Ballroom funding takes blow

▪ FDA’s reversal on vaping

Pentagon's Iran war funding squeeze

America’s military has growing budget problems because of the Iran war, and Congress is unlikely to help the situation anytime soon.

Those were two key takeaways from Capitol Hill last week, as President Trump’s trip to China provided some distraction but little help in finding a way out of his quandary in the Strait of Hormuz.

Naval Operations Chief Adm. Daryl Caudle said Thursday that without supplemental funding for the U.S. war in Iran, he will have to implement cuts in training, routine operations and personnel by July.

“The [fiscal 2026] budget didn’t bake in [Operation] Epic Fury,” Caudle said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. “You see a large Navy force in the Middle East. So we’re burning bright … but it does come at cost, and it comes at operational costs.”

However, the administration has yet to send an Iran war funding request to Congress, and whenever that happens, it faces a tough path ahead, as The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reported.

“I think the supplemental is in big trouble. I think that’s one of the reasons we haven’t seen a formal supplemental request. I think that’s going to be a very heavy lift,” one Republican senator told Bolton.

Growing GOP dissatisfaction with the war is also showing up in war powers votes, with Democrats on the verge of winning over enough Republicans to check Trump’s ongoing operations in the Middle East, as The Hill Ellen Mitchell reports.

Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who focuses on defense strategy and budgeting, said an Iran funding request would likely amplify that dissent.

“I think that's a real risk for the administration. Even though the costs are real, and even though it's costs that have already been incurred … it will nevertheless be portrayed as a vote for or against the war,” Harrison told The Hill.

There’s also uncertainty within the administration over what the rest of the war will look like, and how long it will last, which further complicates a funding request.

“We're in this period, kind of this low period right now, where maybe there's a ceasefire, maybe there's negotiations, maybe there's not, but you know, at any moment this could flare back up into high-intensity conflict,” Harrison said.

“So I think that's part of the calculation as well. You only get one bite at the apple, or you don't want to be coming back asking for a second Iran supplemental later in the year, because now you've doubled your political cost.”

Both Harrison and Michael O’Hanlon, a defense expert at the Brookings Institution, said the military could likely find stopgap solutions to short-term funding problems, thanks in part to some $150 billion in Pentagon funding included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that passed last year.

The Pentagon declined to comment on its funding situation.

Republicans could also try to move additional Iran war funding through reconciliation, a process that would avoid the Democratic filibuster in the Senate. The Pentagon has already requested $350 billion in a reconciliation package as part of its 2027 budget request.

However, key GOP appropriators are already skeptical of that maneuver, and adding billions for the Iran war would only make it a heavier lift for House and Senate leaders.

Much of that funding is aimed at refilling U.S. stockpiles depleting during the first month of Operation Epic Fury.

“One thing that hasn't been looked at as much is the op tempo of naval forces and air forces has been significant,” said Jerry McGinn, the director of the Center for the Industrial Base at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He noted that the Navy and Air Force have also been heavily involved in operations around Venezuela earlier this year and Iran last summer.

While the USS Gerald R. Ford returned home to Virginia on Saturday after an 11-month deployment — the longest since the Vietnam War — there’s no sign that the strain on the Navy will let up anytime soon.

Two other aircraft carriers remain deployed to the Middle East, with the U.S. maintaining its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz and Washington and Tehran deadlocked in negotiations to end the war.

▪ The Hill: GOP senators battle over third reconciliation bill.

▪ The Hill: Trump warns Iran that ‘clock is ticking.’

3 Things to Know Today

Trump is planning to build a helipad at the White House as early as this summer, three people familiar with the issue told The Washington Post. The possibility of a helipad has been discussed for years, as the Marine One choppers risk burning the South Lawn.
The World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda to be a public health emergency of international concern. The agency said the situation doesn’t meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency and advised against closing borders.
A former prison guard who was on duty when Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 is set to testify today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel's investigation into the disgraced financier. Tova Noel is believed to be the last person to see Epstein alive.

LEADING THE DAY

NEXT UP: Attention is quickly turning to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) as the president’s next political target following Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) primary loss.

Cassidy failed to advance Saturday to a runoff for the Republican nomination for his Senate seat, denying him a chance at a third term in office. The Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) and Louisiana state Treasurer John Fleming both advanced.

With Cassidy defeated, Trump is now focusing his ire on Massie, who is facing a serious primary challenge from retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, who has the president’s endorsement. Massie is one of the most conservative members of Congress but has broken with his party on certain issues — perhaps most prominently on the release of the Epstein files.

“Tom Massie of Kentucky, the worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country, is an even bigger insult to our Nation than Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.

Massie hit back, saying Trump’s insult will only help his fundraising numbers.

The race has become the most expensive House primary battle in U.S. history.

While Cassidy expressed optimism about his race ahead of primary day, he ultimately won only about a quarter of the vote in the Republican primary, the first time Louisiana held a closed congressional primary in years.

Cassidy became the latest victim of Trump’s yearslong campaign to oust those who voted in favoring of impeaching him or convicting him for his conduct tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The senior Louisiana senator was one of seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in the impeachment case in 2021.

With his loss, only three pro-impeachment Republicans could remain in Congress in the next term — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) and Rep. David Valadao (Calif.). All the others have either lost reelection bids or retired.

▪ The Hill: GOP senator says ‘no room’ in GOP to ‘destroy’ Trump agenda.

▪ The Hill: Trump slams Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) for Massie support.

BALLROOM BLOW: Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled against including the $1 billion provision in security funding for the White House ballroom in the Senate GOP’s reconciliation package in a major setback to Trump.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said MacDonough ruled that including the provision would violate the Byrd Rule, which governs what types of measures can be passed through reconciliation. The reconciliation process allows legislation to pass with a simple majority instead of the necessary 60 votes for most other measures, but it can only be used for certain budgetary items.

Republicans are seeking to pass legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies through fiscal 2029. But the Senate Judiciary Committee had added the $1 billion to allow for security upgrades to the compound tied to the White House ballroom.

The provision had stoked pushback from Democrats and some Republicans.

Following MacDonough’s ruling, Republicans indicated they would tweak the package.

“Redraft. Refine. Resubmit,” Ryan Wrasse, the communications director for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), said in a post on the social platform X.

▪ The Hill: Senate GOP looking for off-ramp on ballroom debacle.

▪ The Hill: Immigration funding takes center stage on Capitol Hill.

COASTAL THREAT: An Axios report has stirred debate over whether Cuba poses a national security threat to the United States.

The report cited classified intelligence saying the communist government has begun discussing plans to use its more than 300 military drones to attack the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels and possibly Key West, Fla.

"When we think about those types of technologies being that close, and a range of bad actors from terror groups to drug cartels to Iranians to the Russians, it's concerning,” an unnamed official told the outlet.

Florida Republicans quickly seized on the report, as they push for action to overthrow the regime.

“We’ve seen the threat drones pose in the Middle East. Now they are 90 miles from our shores and near critical infrastructure. It’s clear that the Cuban regime is a national security threat,” said Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) in a post on X.

Democrats were more skeptical.

“No country in the current economic and military situation that Cuba is in would ever preemptively strike a super power like the US. This is just propaganda to build a case for an invasion of Cuba,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego (R-Ariz.) in an X post.

The report comes days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Cuba as the island country faces a massive energy crisis amid a U.S. oil embargo that’s been in place for months. Cuban officials have said the country has run out of oil and diesel.

The Trump administration has been attempting to ramp up pressure on the Cuban regime as the two sides negotiate on a resolution.

▪ The Hill: What to know as Cuba faces crisis.

CLERK’S COMMUTATION: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) is facing pushback from his own party following his decision to commute the sentence of former elections clerk Tina Peters years after she was first arrested for election equipment tampering.

“It is a gross injustice to our elections, election workers and democracy, with far-reaching consequences,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told Nexstar affiliate KDVR. “It is a dark day for democracy.”

Polis cut Peters’s sentence in half, setting the stage for her to be released at the start of next month.

Peters had been serving a nearly nine-year prison sentence after she was convicted in 2024 on various counts tied to her conduct as an election clerk in Mesa County. A jury found her guilty of helping a man associated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell gain access to the county’s voter systems, as part of her efforts to boost false claims about the validity of the 2020 presidential election.

Polis had been openly considering clemency for Peters for months, arguing that the sentence was overly harsh. Peters’s sentence was shortened to be about four and a half years, but she will be eligible for parole to be released sooner.

But Democrats in the state and nationwide have been overwhelmingly opposed to clemency for Peters, arguing she hasn’t expressed regret for her actions.

“Tina Peters broke Colorado laws that protect our election security. She was convicted by a jury of her peers and should serve out her sentence like anyone else,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) said in a post on X. “Governor Polis made the wrong decision in reducing her sentence.”

Trump had sought to pressure Polis for Peters to be released for months. Polis said he didn’t make the decision to appease Trump, who praised the move.

▪ The New York Times: How a Dem governor came to release an election denier.

AG DEAL: The White House said China has agreed to purchase at least $17 billion in U.S. agricultural products annually through 2028, on top of its previous commitments on soybean imports.

The White House announced Sunday various commitments it said China agreed to during Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping late last week. Trump had assured farmers while on his way back that they would be pleased with the deals he made.

A fact sheet states Trump “negotiated a sweeping package of commitments that will drive high-paying American jobs and open new markets for U.S. goods.”

▪ The Hill: Trump makes midterm appeal to farmers with China deal, farm bill.

WHEN & WHERE

The president will participate in a healthcare affordability event at 4:30 p.m.
The Senate will meet at 3 p.m.
The House won’t convene today.

CONTENT FROM OUR SPONSOR

U.S. airlines proudly supporting U.S. troops

U.S. passenger and cargo airlines are proud to employ more than 50,000 U.S. veterans.

Learn More

ZOOM IN

VAPING PIVOT: The Trump administration has taken a significant turn on electronic cigarettes in the past few weeks, lifting guardrails that have limited the industry’s growth in recent years.

The administration over the past two weeks permitted marketing authorization to four flavored vaping products and issued guidance allowing unauthorized vapes to stay on the market.

Federal authorities have sought to limit the proliferation of flavored vapes that appeal to minors for almost a decade, including during Trump’s first term, but the moves from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mark a major departure from that, The Hill’s Joseph Choi reports.

New FDA guidance goes around the agency’s scientific review process and could allow tobacco companies to start selling flavored vaping products and nicotine pouches not authorized by the agency, Choi reports. Any electronic cigarette on the market without official authorization is currently illegal, but the FDA has a large backlog of applications seeking approval.

The moves have seemingly caused multiple departures within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Marty Makary left his role as FDA commissioner in part over his objection to approving new vaping products, sources familiar with the matter have said.

And HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s top spokesperson also resigned last week, citing irreconcilable differences over the approval of the e-cigarette flavors.

▪ The Hill: Trump’s health cuts complicate messaging on hantavirus.

ELSEWHERE

HUNTED DOWN: The Israeli military has killed the top Hamas leader in Gaza, accusing him of being a key figure responsible for the militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the country.

The Israel Security Agency and Israel Defense Forces said in a joint statement on Saturday that the country’s armed forces conducted a “precise strike” that killed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who has led the group for nearly a year.

“Haddad is one of the last senior commanders in Hamas’ military wing who directed the planning and execution of the October 7th massacre and the management of combat operations against IDF troops,” they said.

Al-Haddad is the latest in a line of Hamas leaders who have been killed in Israeli strikes in the past few years since the Oct. 7 attack, which killed nearly 1,200 people and resulted in 250 being taken hostage in Gaza. Al-Haddad succeeded Mohammed Sinwar, who was killed last May after having taken over for his brother Yahya Sinwar, who was killed in a firefight with the IDF in October 2024.

Israel and Hamas have had a truce to their war in place since last October, which has mostly held, though both sides have fired at each other since then. More than 70,000 people in Gaza have been killed in the war, according to health officials.

After the completion of the ceasefire’s first phase that saw the release of the hostages and thousands of Palestinian prisoners, officials have been seeking to advance to a second phase that includes Hamas disarming itself. But the group has thus far refused to do so.

▪ Reuters: Strikes killed eight people in Gaza.

▪ The Hill: Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended by 45 days.

The Hill Events

Psychedelic Treatment: What If the Breakthrough Was Already Here

Tuesday, May 19, 8 am - 10 am ET

Mental illness costs the U.S. economy more than $280 billion annually, drives veteran suicide rates, and places mounting strain on everything from emergency rooms to the workforce. On May 19, join The Hill, in partnership with Definium Therapeutics, for a timely mental health policy forum. Speaker highlights:

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)
Dr. Michael Davis, Deputy Center Director, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research (CDER), Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
John Eaton, Vice President, Complex Care, Wounded Warrior Project (WWP)
Mary Giliberti, Chief Public Policy Officer, Mental Health America

Click here to RSVP

OPINION

Bill Cassidy and America’s increasingly broken primary system, The Washington Post editorial board writes.
Nothing beats polarization like civics education, Danielle Allen writes in The New York Times.

THE CLOSER

And finally … Paul McCartney made history Saturday as the second-oldest musician to ever perform on “Saturday Night Live.”

McCartney, who is 83 years old, played on the season 51 finale, which was hosted by Will Ferrell. The former member of “The Beatles” played a total of three songs, including one surprise song he played to close out the show.

The first one was “Days We Left Behind,” from his new album, followed by his hit classic “Band on the Run.” He concluded with “Coming Up.”

The only performer who played on the show who was older than McCartney is Eubie Blake, a jazz pianist who appeared on an episode in 1979 at 92 years old.

McCartney also appeared in one sketch on the show on Saturday.