Thursday, July 30 | By Cate Martel
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Happy Thursday. I can’t wait any longer to wish you a happy National Cheesecake Day!! Nothing will ever top the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake in my personal ranking. Anyone agree?
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Three Trump nominees advance 2 Republicans derail Blanche confirmation Trump’s Senate demands fall flat New, unlikely alliance: Rand Paul & Trump Hegseth asks Silicon Valley to replenish US weapons RFK Jr. launches cooking show Why Roblox is addictive to children
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3 Trump nominees made it through to the next round: |
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions advanced three Trump nominations this morning:
1) Erica Schwartz for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2) Keith Sonderling for secretary of Labor
3) Sean Kaufman as assistant secretary for preparedness and response in Health and Human Services.
The newsiest part: HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) supported all three. Cassidy had reservations about Kaufman because of his past comments criticizing the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.
And on the left: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the top Democrat on the HELP committee, said he was impressed with Schwartz but voted against her nomination because he said he didn’t think she would stand up to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when needed.
💻 Watch the hearing
💬 Follow today’s live blog
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Two Republican senators, John Cornyn (Texas) and Thom Tillis (N.C.), forced the cancellation of today’s critical vote on Todd Blanche to become to become the next permanent attorney general.
Why?: Both expressed concerns about President Trump’s IRS settlement. Republicans have a 2-vote advantage over Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, so without Cornyn and Tillis, it leaves Blanche’s nomination in serious doubt.
^ But more importantly: Cornyn and Tillis have both been emboldened to stand up to the president because they will not serve another Senate term. They have both become thorns in the president’s side — or as The Hill’s Morning Report aptly put it, they’re the leading members of the “YOLO caucus.”
Could Cornyn change his mind?: So far, he hasn’t budged, but there does appear to be some wiggle room.
He told reporters this morning: “I think I am prepared to vote no, but I do think I owe it to my constituents and to Mr. Blanche to try to negotiate in good faith,” Cornyn told reporters. “And that’s what we’ve been doing. And so we’ll see where things are this morning and see where we go from here.”
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He's serious! Super serious! Super dooper serious!!: |
President Trump’s demand for Senate Republicans to pass the framework of his budget reconciliation bill before leaving for their summer recess have fallen flat.
Why?: That’s because Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has warned they do not have enough Republican support to cobble together 50 votes.
The president is *not* happy about this outcome: Trump's relationship with Thune appears strained lately and he declared on Wednesday that not fulfilling his demand before the August break is “too bad” for Thune.
Remember: Passing another budget reconciliation bill is tricky for Republicans. Part of the process requires an all-nighter series of votes where Democrats can force a vote on anything they’d like. That puts Senate Republicans who are in tough reelection fights in an uncomfortable position having to take votes on issues they’d rather avoid.
Read more on the escalating tensions between Trump and Senate Republicans: ‘Trump’s legislative demand falls flat with Senate GOP’
Tidbit: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told NOTUS’s Igor Bobic: “I’m going to make myself a T-shirt that says, ‘No, I'm not interested in blowing up the filibuster,’ and, ‘No, I don't like reconciliations.’”
^ You know, I’m sure some people would actually buy those…
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➤ WELL, THAT WASN'T ON MY BINGO CARD: |
“Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has emerged as an unlikely ally for President Trump in the Senate as Trump’s relationship with Republican leadership becomes increasingly strained,” The Hill’s Julia Manchester and Helen Huiskes report.
What changed?: “Paul’s unexpected transformation from a perpetual nuisance to an opportunistic friend follows the loss of Rep. Thomas Massie (R) — a fellow Kentuckian with a strong libertarian streak — to a Trump-backed primary challenger in May.”
Read more: ‘Paul, Trump forge unlikely alliance, mending strained relationship’
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Hegseth’s plan to replenish US weapons: |
The Trump administration is barreling forward with the war in Iran despite concerns about the U.S.’s weapon stockpile getting depleted.
The Washington Post reports today that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is hoping that Silicon Valley will help replenish the U.S.’s weapons.
In late June, Hegseth reportedly met with more than a dozen top defense industry companies, asking them to build weapons.
Why this is a big deal: “The meeting, several details of which were previously unreported, underscores a pivotal shift in the U.S. defense industry. With the Iran war consuming vast quantities of precision munitions and relying less on ground troops or drone warfare, the Pentagon is leaning on venture-backed start-ups to solve one of its most pressing problems: rebuilding America’s weapons stockpiles at speed.”
Read the Post’s reporting: ‘A shrinking weapons stockpile is testing the Pentagon’s sweeping new strategy’
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➤ WHERE THE IRAN WAR STANDS TODAY: |
➤ AMERICANS DON'T THINK THIS WAR IS ENDING ANYTIME SOON: |
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Interesting poll that's getting traction: |
Two in three MAGA Trump voters say they would still support a Republican candidate who has been accused of sexual assault. And 72 percent of MAGA voters say the same about domestic violence.
That’s according to a new Politico poll.
For comparison, 40 percent of voters who backed former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 would still vote for a candidate who was accused of sexual assault.
📊 Read more from the poll — it’s fascinating.
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➤ IT'S COOKING WITH BOBBY!
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Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is launching a cooking show focused on inexpensive meals. 🎥 Watch the teaser
^ On today’s episode, here’s how to prepare bear meat! I kid, I kid (but maybe not?).
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— Tech billionaire Elon Musk is planning to spend big in the midterms. “Musk is resuscitating his dormant super PAC, America PAC, which spent more than $260 million to help get President Trump elected in 2024,” Axios reports.
— A low-cost liquid, silver diamine fluoride (SDF), could be the answer to stopping cavities without drilling, shots or sedation, according to a new study.
— The Senate unanimously agreed that Jeffrey Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, should not be pardoned. The resolution the Senate passed is nonbinding, but it sure sends a message to President Trump. See, bipartisanship in action!
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The New York Times: Uninsured Patients Rise Sharply, Hospitals Report, Citing Obamacare Cuts
New York Magazine: Trump’s Payback Against Jack Smith Is Off to a Bad Start
NOTUS: Inside the Push to Claw Back Graham Platner’s Campaign Money
The Economist: Why people over the age of 55 are the new problem generation: Baby-boomers are keeping their bad habits into retirement
Vox: AI could end up too cheap to control: Think anarchy, not oligarchy.
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The House is out. The Senate is in. President Trump is at the White House. (All times EDT)
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1:30 p.m. Trump makes an announcement on “Freedom Haulers.” 💻 Livestream
1:45 p.m. The Senate votes on group of 74 Trump nominees. 📆 Today’s agenda
3 p.m. Trump participates in “signing time.”
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🍰 Celebrate: Today is National Cheesecake Day! Cheesecake slices are half price today at the motherland, The Cheesecake Factory! They even have a new flavor to celebrate.
📱 You can now lease an iPhone: Apple unveiled its plans to offer iPhone leases for $17.99 per month through a partnership with Klarna. How it works
🎮 Why Roblox is so addictive to kids: Roblox is a very popular gaming platform for children. Well, The Atlantic reports on why it’s so difficult for kids to stop playing it. “The mechanics of many games on the platform are nearly identical to those of slot machines and sports-betting apps.” Read more: ‘Why Kids Can’t Quit Roblox’
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Despite the sign being abundantly clear not to feed the quokkas “no matter what they say,” GOOD LUCK telling one no. I’ve never seen such cute and polite begging!
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