Beyond the Grave

Sylvester Turner Funeral
A military honor guard marches from the church carrying the remains of U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner during his funeral at The Church Without Walls in Houston. (Brett Coomer /Houston Chronicle via AP)

Today’s notice: Leave the basement dwellers alone. Defense authorization sails along. More drama in the NYC mayoral race. And: “Weekend at Bernie’s” for congressional campaigns.

THE LATEST

Big, beautiful no-nos: “Stop making fun of lazy folks who live in the basements” was how one Republican lawmaker characterized the advice Karoline Leavitt and White House deputy chief of staff James Blair gave House Republicans during a messaging briefing yesterday on the Hill, NOTUS’ Reese Gorman reports.

The gist: Talk about the tax cuts, not the Medicaid cuts, the White House told Republicans.

Republicans know they have a problem. Public perception of their budget law’s cuts to Medicaid is not good, and it overall still has low public support in polling.