Today’s notice: Rescissions with an Epstein twist. Freedom Caucus math. Endorsing partisanship. Following the money behind Alligator Alcatraz. And: Tillis lays it all out in an interview with a NOTUS partner site.
The Latest
First things first. The House did meet its deadline, passing President Donald Trump’s rescission package that rolls back nearly $8 billion in foreign aid and more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, just after midnight Friday.
It’s hard to believe (or maybe not given the news cycle) how the House got there: By planning for a vote on a nonbinding resolution to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to release documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Not on the bingo card is the most overused and (if you really think about it) nonsensical phrase to sweep Washington discourse in quite a while. And yet! Few could’ve possibly expected that a Republican governing trifecta would stumble trying to at long last defund NPR because of Epstein.
That’s how it shook out Thursday night. NOTUS’ Daniella Diaz reported that House GOP leaders held up the rescissions vote after Rules Committee Republicans expressed discomfort with rejecting certain amendments to compel the release of Epstein investigation documents.
Republicans ultimately settled on setting up a future vote on this nonbinding resolution.
Democrats had the feeling their days-long trolling campaign over “the Epstein files” was paying off. “They think people are stupid,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, the Rules Committee’s ranking member. “People are not stupid. People want action.”
This doesn’t end here: The WSJ Story dropped right in the middle of this House conversation, blowing up the White House’s efforts to get everyone to move on from the topic.
Trump forcefully rejected The Journal’s reporting that he wrote a “bawdy” birthday letter to Epstein in 2003 and vowed to sue the paper, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch. He also called on Bondi to produce “pertinent” grand jury testimony. (Bondi said she was ready to make the request of the court today. We should note the grand jury testimony is not the entirety of the “Epstein files.”) There were early signs last night that some MAGA faithful who had grown frustrated over Epstein were circling the wagons against the press.
Open Tabs: Trump administration gives Medicaid recipients’ personal data to ICE (AP); DOJ says ex-officer convicted in Breonna Taylor raid should get 1 day in jail (Axios); UK voting age to be lowered to 16 (BBC); Arizona Dems oust their party chair (Politico); CBS is ending ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ next year (CNN)
From the Hill
Lots of eye rolling: Once again the House Freedom Caucus trashed a bill, slowed its passage down and eventually voted for it — a pattern that’s led to plenty of frustration in the House GOP ranks, NOTUS’ Riley Rogerson reports.
“It’s just a lot of drama,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told her.
The Freedom Caucus says it’s winning. “They literally said we weren’t going to touch Medicaid,” Rep. Chip Roy, a senior member of the caucus, told NOTUS. “And we touched a trillion dollars worth of Medicaid.”
Members also claim they got secret concessions from the White House on reconciliation. Like what? “As my 94-year-old grandfather said to me one time, ‘Son, you’re hemming me in too tight,’” HFC member Rep. Josh Brecheen said to Riley’s follow-up questions. Sounds uncomfortable.
From the White House
The chaos is the point: OMB Director Russell Vought dismissed fears from those on Capitol Hill about the future of the appropriations process.
“It’s not going to keep me up at night, and I think will lead to better results by having the appropriations process be a little bit partisan,” he said in response to a question from NOTUS’ Violet Jira. He went on to explicitly say that the appropriations process “has to be less bipartisan.”
That comment was heard loud and clear in Congress. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Trump to fire Vought over it.
It was perhaps heard less clearly at the White House. “I think our Office of Management and Budget director was saying this process should be more bipartisan,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
In other news, Leavitt gave an update on the status of Trump’s hand, saying the bruising we’ve all been seeing in photos is “from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen.”
NOTUS Investigation
Alligator memory hole: The Florida detention centers hastily being assembled by Gov. Ron DeSantis for ICE to use are very expensive to build and maintain. Some of those expenses have been quietly removed from a state-run spending transparency website, NOTUS’ Claire Heddles reports.
At least 11 contracts have been pulled from the site this week. Some financial details from some of the contracts are still up, like pay and overtime rates. But key details including dates of state approvals and cost breakdowns have vanished, Claire reports. At least one contract, a $37-million agreement for asphalt, roadways and fencing, appeared to have been removed from the state’s contract database entirely.
In total, DeSantis has earmarked at least $225 million for these detention facilities. He’s using an emergency authority he granted himself three years ago and has continually extended. Florida officials say they’re planning for the state’s spending to be reimbursed by FEMA eventually.
Florida’s Department of Financial Services did not respond to NOTUS’ questions about the removal of the contracts from the website.
New on NOTUS
Tillis’ failed crusade: Sen. Thom Tillis went around to other North Carolina Republicans with a seven-page report on the dangerous effects the reconciliation bill could have on the state’s budget, NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative partner The Assembly reports. Tillis detailed his doomed effort to stop the bill in an interview with the site’s Jim Morrill.
The short version (but you should really read the long one): The report didn’t move votes, but Tillis told JD Vance that “if this bill passes, I think President Trump is likely to have two of the most miserable years of his life.”
Crypto Week ends strong: It took keeping a procedural vote open for a record nine hours, but the House has voted to send the GENIUS Act to Trump’s desk, where the president is expected to sign it.
More: Why the Gambling Industry Wants Senators to Hold Up a Trump Nominee; Senate Judiciary Republicans Advance Emil Bove’s Nomination; Mike Lawler Says He’s Urged Fellow Republicans to Restore LGBTQ+ Services to the Suicide Hotline; Republicans Say ICE Detention Centers Are ‘Pretty Friggin’ Nice’
NOT US
- Louisiana police chiefs accused of visa fraud over false crime reports, by Victoria Bisset for The Washington Post
- National Guard came to L.A. to fight unrest. Troops ended up fighting boredom, by Jenny Jarvie, Grace Toohey and Christopher Buchanan for the Los Angeles Times
- Trump’s War on the ‘Deep State’ Comes for the Dogs, by Shane Harris for The Atlantic
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