Pinning Down the Tax Bill
Turns out the House only thought it was done with the first round of action on the giant debt limit-spending cut-tax bill.
Several swaths of the package are in line to be deleted because the legislation wasn’t written in a way that complies with Senate budget rules, BGOV’s Ken Tran reports.
Among the provisions that will need do-overs are the ones targeting an energy assistance program and Medicaid provisions related to the Social Security Act. A small amount of new funding for the Pentagon will also be removed.
Leaders are handling those in a combo platter along with the rule for floor debate of President Donald Trump’s request to rescind $9.4 billion in funding for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting. Read More
Senators have already been talking about changes they might want to make once they formally get custody of the megabill (
“I think that the president as you know campaigned hard on no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, Social Security, interest on car loans — those were all things that are priorities for the administration and they were addressed in the House bill and I expect they will be in the Senate as well,” Thune told reporters. Read More
Commentary: The GOP tax bill will hurt the economy, raise the debt and increase costs for families, former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew writes in an opinion piece. Read More
Scoop: F-35 Order Changing
The Air Force has decided it wants half as many new F-35 fighter jets as it predicted last year, Roxana Tiron and Tony Capaccio report.
The proposal in a procurement request to Congress would deal a blow to Lockheed Martin Corp., the top US defense contractor.
The scaling back of the F-35 request may reflect one way the service is revising its funding to comply with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to reduce projected US military spending by 8% over the next five years. Read More
See also: Lawmakers Prod US Navy to Launch New Stealth Fighter Program
New Mitch
The unleashed-from-leadership version of Sen. Mitch McConnell goes face-to-face today with a cabinet officer whose confirmation he opposed and whose grasp of higher math he questions.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is to testify before the defense appropriations subcommittee headed by McConnell. An aide tells BGOV’s Roxana Tiron that the Kentucky Republican is ready to dissect the Trump administration’s claim that it’s requesting a record national security budget of $1.01 trillion.
When adjusted for inflation, in the last 20 years there have been 14 defense budget requests that exceeded the levels in the fiscal 2026 request, according to the aide, who asked not to be named to candidly preview the hearing.
For more on the day ahead on Capitol Hill, BGOV subscribers can check out this morning’s Congress Tracker.
‘Other States Are Next’
This is the in-between day before a judge takes up California’s bid to limit military involvement in the Los Angeles immigration protests.
Active-duty Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment are now in the Los Angeles area. Hegseth told Congress their role will be to protect immigration agents and keep demonstrations from getting out of control. Acting Pentagon Comptroller Bryn MacDonnell said the deployment is estimated to cost $134 million, which covers travel, housing and food.
US law generally bars the use of the active-duty US military — the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines — from carrying out domestic law enforcement.
In its request for an emergency order, attorneys for the state argued that the military deployment “creates imminent harm to state sovereignty” and “escalates tensions.” California’s request is framed in a way that would still let the troops physically protect federal courthouses, offices and personnel, but bar them from helping in federal law enforcement like immigration raids.
In an address last night, Newsom said Trump had bypassed state and local officials to stage what he called an unlawful and inflammatory military deployment.
“California may be first – but it clearly won’t end here. Other states are next,” Newsom said. “Democracy is under assault right before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.” Read More
See also:
- National Guard Providing Security for ICE Officers, US Says
- Hegseth Defends Move to Deploy National Guard and Marines to LA
- Venezuelans Get Court to Stop Removal by Trump Officials
Getting to Yes
The Republican in charge of keeping a finger on the pulse of House members and doing what it takes to get Trump’s priorities into law sat down with Bloomberg Government for a discussion about how he handles legislation and personalities.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) described his role as a combination of listening, educating, and using the narrowness of the GOP majority to his advantage, Maeve Sheehey reports.
He said he tells members that they can be the difference in whether a vote important to the president succeeds or fails, and “we’re all going to vote yes or none of it happens.” Read More
Exclusive: Lobby Soloists
Dozens of firms with just one solo lobbyist are eschewing the big-team approach, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis of federal lobbying disclosures.
Our dive into the data found more than 50 of them billed $1 million or more last year, Kate Ackley reports.
“We tend to be scrappy,” said Missy Edwards, who opened her shop, Missy Edwards Strategies, in 2010, and last year disclosed $1.3 million in fees from Truckload Carriers Association, Shein Technology, and other clients.
Arshi Siddiqui, once an aide to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said she doesn’t intend to stay a one-person operation, but the timing helped her launch her practice. “Starting something off solo is probably easier than it’s ever been before because of technology,” said Siddiqui, who previously worked at Akin, one of the city’s largest, bipartisan firms. Read More
China Progress
After two days of discussions that spanned nearly 20 hours, American and Chinese negotiators appear to have deescalated the trade war.
It’s just one step, but a friendly one described by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as “a framework.”
“We do absolutely expect that the topic of rare Earth minerals and magnets with respect to the United States of America will be resolved in this framework implementation,” Lutnick said.
“Once the presidents approve it, we will then seek to implement it,” he said. Then the two countries will have to hammer out agreements on excess capacity, unfair trade practices and the flow of fentanyl, as part of a broader trade agreement. Read More
Meanwhile, the US and Mexico are closing in on a deal that would remove Trump’s 50% tariffs on steel imports up to a certain volume. Read More
The Mexico development plus the wrapup of the London talks means that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just might sail into today’s scheduled congressional testimony like a guy with the wind at his back.
Eye on the Economy
Today’s other noteworthy economic development will be an update of the Consumer Price Index, which experts expect to show that consumers probably saw slightly faster inflation in May as companies gradually pass along higher import duties.
FEMA’s Final Season
We’re 11 days into the June-through-November hurricane season, and now have some clarity about the administration’s intentions toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Trump said he’d still like to see FEMA largely eliminated “after the hurricane season.”
“If a certain state, as an example, gets hit by a hurricane or tonight, that’s what the governor — you know, the governor should be able to handle it,” Trump said. “And frankly, if they can’t handle it the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration would create a council “over the next couple of months” to envision the agency’s future and federal disaster assistance. Read More
Before You Go
CO2 Limits: The Trump administration is getting ready to propose scrapping mandates requiring the nation’s power plants to curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Read More
‘Nuclear Annihilation': DNI Tulsi Gabbard released a video warning that the world is closer to nuclear war than ever and accusing unnamed political elites of trying to foment conflict between world powers. “As we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers,” Gabbard said in the video posted to X. Read More
Act of Contrition: Elon Musk, who served as a close adviser and confidante to President Donald Trump until a bitter public falling out last week in a series of social-media posts, is pulling back this week. “I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week,” he said on his social-media platform, X. “They went too far.” Read More
Progress, She Says: Education Secretary Linda McMahon says the administration is “making progress in some of the discussions” with Harvard. “It would be my goal that if colleges and universities are abiding by the laws of the United States and doing what we expect of them, that they can expect taxpayer-funded programs,” the secretary said at a Bloomberg News event. Read More
Congresswoman Nominated: No matter what happens in New Jersey’s election for governor later this year, it will be part of a trend. Either the new Democratic nominee, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, will benefit from a backlash against the party in the White House, as often happens in the congressional midterms, or the state will stick to its pattern of switching up the party with the governorship. Only one other state, Virginia, is electing a governor in 2025. Read More
See also: Harvard AIDS Research Hit by Trump Feud
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