Today’s notice: Everyone heard what they wanted to hear from the president. The Rules Committee has a late night. Lucrative investments. RFK Jr. is still trying to defend HHS cuts. An exclusive from House Judiciary Dems.
Stumbling Toward a Finish Line
The Rules Committee met at 1 a.m. to start debate on amendments to the One Big, Beautiful Bill. As of 6 a.m., there were hundreds of amendments still to go, NOTUS’ Katherine Swartz reports from a long night on the Hill.
Crucially, the main piece of text containing all the changes House Speaker Mike Johnson has promised to factions of his conference in an effort to get holdouts on board was still not available because it was still being negotiated.
So will Johnson get this bill to the floor today? Maybe. It will certainly pass out of committee, Katherine tells us, because Rep. Ralph Norman has promised to support it (tbd on Rep. Chip Roy, who has been coy about how he’ll vote).
There was some progress: Blue-state Republicans reached a tentative agreement with GOP leadership over the state and local tax deduction, NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak reports. The deal now on the table is a $40,000 cap for people making under $500,000 a year, with a year-by-year growth of the dedication over the next decade.
What will today bring, besides a lot of coffee? Stay tuned.
What Does ‘Don’t F*** Around With Medicaid’ Mean?
Republicans were hoping Tuesday to get a message from Donald Trump on how to get his One Big, Beautiful Bill through stubborn factions in the legislative branch. And they got one when Trump stopped by the House GOP caucus meeting: “Don’t fuck around with Medicaid.”
Unfortunately for bill supporters, it seems that there’s little agreement on what Trump meant. NOTUS’ Ursula Perano and Em Luetkemeyer report that Medicaid-cut-skeptical senators took the comments as clear support for their side, although senators weren’t in the room to hear it directly. “He wanted no Medicaid benefit cuts,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, who wrote an op-ed in The New York Times recently cautioning against cuts. “None.”
Other Republicans interpreted the comments as a green light from the president to bring down Medicaid spending to fund the reconciliation bill. “We’re not looking at actually doing reforms to Medicaid. What we’re looking at is getting the fraud and the waste,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin said.
Exactly what Trump wants to do with Medicaid confused the people who heard him make his quip, too. The Freedom Caucus’ chair, Rep. Andy Biggs, argued that cutting the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage was still in play under Trump’s parameters.
Meanwhile, our Capitol Hill team reports that a senior GOP leadership aide heard something completely different. “Some members want to go farther on Medicaid cuts, but the president completely shut the door on that this morning,” the aide told them.
That means lawmakers ended the day with many of the same problems they started with. The cuts they want are impossible to do without touching Medicaid and, per Ursula and Em, “Republicans all seem to have different interpretations of what’s a legitimate area to address with Medicaid.”
—Evan McMorris-Santroro | Read what the Senate heard. | Read what the House heard.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- Supreme Court ruling on Venezuelans ripples through Miami’s ‘Doralzuela’, by Christine Armario for The Washington Post
- Forecasters: Most taxpayers would see tax cut under Republican plan, by Brian Faler for Politico
- Trump vows to turn the Kennedy Center around as he seeks to remake arts and culture in America, by Will Weissert for the Associated Press
Making Money, Making Laws Report: Crypto Edition
The Senate is moving forward with a huge crypto-related bill. NOTUS’ Claire Heddles and Samuel Larreal report that “at least one of the lawmakers working on it, Sen. Dave McCormick, could benefit monetarily from it.”
The Pennsylvania freshman has invested between $500,000 and $1.25 million into Bitwise’s bitcoin exchange-traded fund over the past few months, and its value shot up after the GENIUS Act passed cloture.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who opposes the bill, called this a conflict of interest. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a bill supporter, said that it’s not. McCormick declined an interview with NOTUS, and his office did not respond to NOTUS’ emailed request for comment.
Read details of the investment.
Exclusive: Raskin Wants Bondi Investigated
Rep. Jamie Raskin sent a letter to the DOJ inspector general asking for an investigation into Attorney General Pam Bondi, NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno reports. Raskin has questions after Bondi sold between $1.25 million and $5.5 million shares in Trump’s media company on “Liberation Day.”
“This conduct bears all the hallmarks of insider trading and demands impartial investigation,” Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote in the letter. The Justice Department did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
Democrats Plan More ICE Visits
Expect more visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities by Democrats — and, potentially, more legal conflict. NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak reports that many say they’re undeterred by the criminal charges filed against Rep. LaMonica McIver after her visit to a New Jersey detention facility earlier this month.
“He wants to intimidate us out of doing that, and in our meeting, we decided we’re just about to go into a lot more oversight visits at ICE facilities,” Rep. Greg Casar said.
RFK Jr. Defends HHS Budget Cuts
If members of the Senate Appropriations HELP subcommittee hoped to glean any fresh insights on cuts to health programs and research from their Monday hearing with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., they surely left disappointed.
Not only did Kennedy tell senators, “I don’t know about those cuts,” but he also reused the same opening statement from his two hearing appearances last week.
Quotable: No Take Backs
“Your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job.”
That’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a hearing Tuesday when Democratic senators said they regretted their part in the (unanimous) vote confirming him.
Read the story from Haley Byrd Wilt.
Front Page
- The Trump Administration Confirms It Wants to Privatize Energy Star: Industry leaders are opposed to the EPA eliminating its Energy Star program.
- Some Republicans Are Closely Watching Weather Service Cuts: “You’ve gotta make sure that people’s lives are protected,” one lawmaker said.
- The ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Has a Tiny Provision That Could Tax the Trump Legal Resistance: A measure in the reconciliation bill would force judges to impose security bonds on organizations seeking injunctions.
- Kristi Noem Struggled to Define Habeas Corpus as Senate Dems Pushed Her on DHS Budget: Democrats have previously had difficulty finding their footing when attacking the Trump administration on immigration.
- Trump Announces Plans for a ‘Golden Dome’ Defense System With Republicans’ Backing: Not that long ago, Republican senators were skeptical of the need for an “Iron Dome” defense system in the United States.
- Senate Republicans Say They Will Overrule the Parliamentarian to Overturn EPA Policy: Republicans are planning to break decades of precedent to prevent California from phasing out gas cars.
Be Social
Uh oh…
Oh no https://t.co/TAXb2jx714 pic.twitter.com/vvKlKhRXsk
— Rory Cooper (@rorycooper) May 20, 2025
(Just kidding, mystery solved. Happy birthday, Sophia!)
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