Johnson Meets His Self-Imposed Deadline: BGOV Starting Line

Johnson, Trump, Rabbit, Hat

Two consecutive overnighters, lots of White House involvement, and Speaker Mike Johnson pulled an extremely elusive rabbit out of the proverbial hat. The everything-all-at-once package of President Donald Trump’s spending and tax priorities made it into position for a House vote around 3 a.m. and won approval on the floor in a 215-214 vote moments ago.

That means Johnson (R-La.) met his self-imposed deadline for getting the package through his chamber before the Memorial Day recess. Read More

And as laborious as the House process was, what’s ahead will take even longer because Senate rules are different, as Lillianna Byington explains for Congress Tracker subscribers.

What’s Inside the Tax-Medicaid-Debt Package

The bill’s more than 1,000 pages long, so let’s hit the highlights:

• Federal taxpayers would be able to deduct as much as $40,000 of the state and local taxes they pay, up from $10,000;
• New Medicaid work requirements would take effect in December 2026 — just after the midterm elections;
• The standard deduction, which gives taxpayers an incentive to skip the long form’s itemization, would be locked in at the level in the 2017 tax law;
• Federal borrowing authority — the debt limit — would be increased by $4 trillion to avoid a default on government obligations;
• The child tax credit would go up temporarily;
• Owners of electric and hybrid vehicles would be charged new annual fees;
• Permitting for fossil fuel projects would be fast-tracked.

See also:

• Medicaid Work Requirements Pose Capacity Challenge for States
• BGOV Bill Analysis: H.R. 1, House GOP Reconciliation Package
  

Chairman’s Debut

We’re all accustomed to Mitch McConnell as a partisan strategist and former Senate leader. Today we’ll see an unfamiliar version of the Kentucky Republican — appropriations cardinal.

He’ll wield the Defense Subcommittee gavel and lead the questioning of National Guard and Reserves leaders.

Roxana Tiron reports McConnell has been publicly critical of the Trump administration’s fiscal 2026 spending request, which he considers inadequate for the Pentagon’s needs and for border-security aspirations. Look for McConnell to focus on the cost of keeping forces ready for domestic military missions.

The ranking Democrat on the panel, Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), said he’ll be ready with questions about the border as well. “They are talking about 20,000 National Guardsmen and not only at the border, but their suggestion is they would be used in the interior which is getting really close to law enforcement,” Reed said. Senators also may take advantage of the opportunity to ask about personnel transfers from guard units to the Space Force without the permission of governors.

Other Senate appropriations panels are scheduled to question Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary.

DOGE Information

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let it keep some secrets.

The Justice Department is challenging a ruling that told Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to abide by the Freedom of Information Act. The administration contends that documents in question belong to the White House and are exempt from the public records law. Read More

And there are developments in several other challenges to Trump administration actions:

• An Atlanta nonprofit won a preliminary injunction that orders the Trump administration to unfreeze school desegregation grants. Read More
• Migrants didn’t get even a full day’s notice before their removal, a federal judge concluded — grilling government lawyers over what to do about it as the men sat in an airplane on the tarmac in an unidentified location. The judge directed immediate action to protect the deportees’ right to oppose deportation to violence-torn South Sudan. Read More
• A different federal judge ruled that Trump unlawfully fired Democrats from the government’s top privacy and civil liberties watchdog agency Read More
• The Trump administration violated Harvard Medical School professors’ First Amendment rights by censoring papers containing words related to gender ideology, the judge hearing the firings case said. Read More
• The administration got what it wanted in another case when a federal judge said the Education Department’s downsizing of its Office of Civil Rights can stay in place. Read More

Eye on the Economy

The latest move on the trade-war front comes from the European Union, which offered some specific proposals on food and agri-standards and mutual recognition agreements. The document sent to Washington also makes an overture on working jointly to combat overcapacity in the steel, pharmaceutical, automotive and semiconductor supply chains.

At the same time, the EU is putting together its backup plan — $108 billion of additional tariffs in response to Trump’s “reciprocal” levies and 25% tariffs on cars and some parts. Read More

See also: Tariff Deadlines, Customs Audits Is Dicey Combo for US Importers

Before You Go

In South Africa, the immediate aftermath of yesterday’s Oval Office meeting seems to be support for the way President Cyril Ramaphosa kept his cool as Trump pushed false claims of genocide against White people. “Calm Cyril Survives Trump’s Ambush,” ran the headline in today’s Sowetan newspaper, while The Citizen described the encounter as a “White House shoot-out.” Ramaphosa was jailed for his opposition to apartheid and helped negotiate an end to White-minority rule. Read More

Tonight’s the night for Trump’s dinner with the biggest holders of his memecoin — an event that raised concerns over potential conflicts of interest. Bloomberg News found that all but six of the top 25 holders of the $TRUMP memecoin used foreign exchanges that are ostensibly off-limits to anyone living in the US. Read More

Generally governors wait a respectful number of days before scheduling special elections after a death, so we don’t expect to hear right away from Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin. The Republican governor has wide discretion on the timing for voters to pick a successor to the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). On Capitol Hill, Democrats will need to choose a new Oversight and Government Reform ranking member. Read More

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