Quorum-Defying Texans May Be Ready to Go Home: Starting Line

Road Back Home to Texas

They’re either about to concede defeat or they feel like they’ve achieved their goal by mobilizing national opposition to the extraordinary congressional redistricting being undertaken to please President Donald Trump. Whichever spin you favor, the saga of the Texas statehouse quorum-thwarters appears to be winding down.

Texas House Democratic Caucus Chairman Gene Wu said on “Meet the Press NOW” that Democrats can move their fight to the courts and to other states, like California, that are willing to fight gerrymandering with gerrymandering.

“Our commitment was only to kill this corrupt special session. What we will do, what we’re going to do in the future, we’re in discussions right now,” he said.

Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows (both Republicans) said that if Democratic lawmakers who left the state aren’t back by tomorrow, they’ll adjourn the special session and immediately begin a new one.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who’s been acting super eager to be the one who counters Texas with a blue-favoring gerrymander, scheduled a press conference and promoted it in all-caps on social media: “DEMOCRATS WILL DESTROY GREG ABBOTT’S ‘TOTALLY RIGGED MAPS.’ TREMENDOUS WORK IS BEING DONE,” " the post said. “AMERICA WILL BE LIBERATED — ‘LIBERATION DAY’ MANY ARE CALLING IT!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”

Summit Prep

Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin are now one day away from their face-to-face at a military base in Anchorage, Alaska, where they’re to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

As part of the preparations, Trump spent an hour on a conference call with European leaders and Vladimir Zelenskiy. The Ukranian leader has consistently said he won’t hand over territory in exchange for a cease-fire. French President Emmanuel Macron said after the call that any decision on possible concessions on territory will have to be made by Ukraine.

“Until there is a ceasefire and a lasting peace, we must continue to support Ukraine, and when I say we I mean Europeans and Americans,” Macron said.

Zelenskiy is to meet in London today with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Congressional supporters of Ukraine have been sitting on sanctions legislation, waiting for Trump’s agreement to proceed. That may be what he was referring to when Trump said there would be “very severe consequences” if Putin doesn’t agree to a ceasefire.

Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Trump and Putin will also discuss bilateral economic cooperation, according to Russian newswires. The two presidents will hold a joint news conference after their meeting, the Kremlin said. Read More

Musk-Muzzling

Consumers vote with their dollars, and after Elon Musk took a high-profile, pose-with-chainsaw role with the Trump administration, his car company’s sales went down.

Then Tesla’s stock price dipped after Musk announced plans to form a new political party. It fell again after the company reported declining auto sales for a second consecutive quarter.

Now a Tesla investor wants shareholders to consider a “political neutrality policy,” and the company’s asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to agree with its position — that the proposal shouldn’t even be discussed. Read More

That’s happening as Musk gets to bask in some good news from Washington: His off-again-on-again pal at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. lifted some of the regulations that commercial space operations have had to comply with.

Trump’s executive order is a win for Musk’s SpaceX. Read More

Lobbying Disclosure Workaround

An analysis of federal lobbying reports by the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project shows that Google and its parent company, Alphabet, used an internal reorganization to exclude the value of lobbying by its senior executives from disclosures. A Bloomberg analysis of lobbying records confirms the findings.

A result of the accounting change was to lower the amount that Google reported spending to influence the federal government, allowing the company “to shield a significant portion of its lobbying expenditures from public view,” the Tech Transparency Project said in its report.

A Google spokesperson, José Castañeda, disputed the report and said the company has followed all relevant disclosure laws. “These are inaccurate claims about a technical change that simply brought us in line with how many other companies report their lobbying activities,” he said. “Our lobbying expenditures began decreasing in 2018, after we restructured our government affairs team and cut spending on consultants.” Read More

More Union Contracts X’d Out

Add USDA to the list of federal agencies ripping up union contracts.

The agreement covering thousands of Food Safety and Inspection Service workers is no longer being recognized, reports Skye Witley.

Paula Soldner, who chairs the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a text message the terminated contract covered 6,500 USDA food and safety inspectors. They monitor commercial production of meat, poultry, and eggs to ensure supplies are properly labeled and safe for public consumption.

The move comes as USDA prepares to reorganize its staffing structure and relocate thousands of DC-based employees to other regions.

And Ellen M. Gilmer reports that the Department of Homeland Security scrapped its contract covering chemical security inspectors and employees of the Federal Protective Service. That’s in addition to collective bargaining agreements severed this week at FEMA and US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Eye on the Economy

A couple more data points today will further fuel the debate over whether America is headed for an inflation spike, or whether worries are overblown.

A report to investors by Deere & Co., the world’s biggest agriculture machinery maker, showed a reduced outlook for revenue this year. It’s a sign growers are have not yet begun spending with grain prices under pressure and crop demand uncertain amid Trump’s trade wars. Read More

Since it’s Thursday, we’ll get the regular weekly update of new and continuing claims for jobless benefits — another closely watched signpost.

And the Labor Department will release its monthly update of the producer price index. That one measures inflation of the things companies need to make their products.

Those are among the many dots that together get connected by the Federal Reserve when it comes time for policy-makers to decide when it’s time to alter interest rates. The Fed’s been cautious this year because the future effect of Trump’s trade policies on inflation isn’t clear.

Tariff Watch

There are lots of moving parts and question marks in Trump’s trade war. Among the potential levies that are still just a threat:

Semiconductors
Pharmaceuticals
Food
Lumber
Oil and gas
Processed critical minerals
Commercial aircraft
Movies produced outside the US

And no, that’s not a full list. To get even more up to speed, check out these primers:

Before You Go

SALT Loss: An appeals court rejected a bid by New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to overturn a Treasury Department ban on programs that allowed residents to bypass the federal cap on deductions for state and local taxes by directing their tax payments to state-run charities, John Woolley and Tristan Navera report. Read More

More Control: Trump said he’ll ask Congress to send him legislation providing greater authority over DC’s police department. Speaking at the Kennedy Center, he also said the idea of statehood for the district is “ridiculous.” Read More

Depleted Defense: Mass departures from the Justice Department and a rising flood of lawsuits are squeezing government lawyers defending administration policies, with signs of strain spilling into court. In deadline extension requests since January, lawyers have taken the unusual step of publicly acknowledging to judges that they are overextended and having trouble keeping up with the workload. Read More

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— With assistance from Skye Witley and Ellen M. Gilmer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Rizzo in Washington at krizzo@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rachel Leven at rleven@bloombergindustry.com; Herb Jackson at hjackson@bloombergindustry.com

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