Solvers vs. the Problem

Today’s notice: The state of bipartisanship. The Problem Solver-in-Chief. Democratic candidate stampede. An exclusive on DNC organizing. A mess, Texas-style.

Can Conservatives Be Won Over Without Losing Moderates?

This Big, Beautiful Bill process is both the hardest and easiest thing Republicans could have done. With narrow margins in both chambers, the plan was to do a lot at once and do it fast, giving everyone something and not a lot of time to think about what they had to give up.

Going fast is not going well. So now conversations about what people are giving up are replacing the excitement about what they’re getting. NOTUS’ Katherine Swartz, Reese Gorman, Riley Rogerson and Daniella Diaz report that Speaker Mike Johnson is “forging ahead” even though moderates and conservatives have not decided on a compromise yet.

Our Capitol Hill team has a lot of details on what we know about the changes conservatives wrenched out of leadership over the weekend, even though many of those changes remain opaque. As they become clearer, will moderates stick with the bill or will they be the ones slowing it down? No one is really sure.

The members most eager to cut deals are effectively cut out of this process entirely, NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt notes in a report on the state of the Problem Solvers Caucus (which is a real thing and not a funny name, so stop laughing).

“I think people kind of account for the fact that it’s a bump in the road, from a bipartisan perspective, but there’s still a lot of really important stuff we have to do together,” one GOP member of the group told Haley.

Republicans in the coalition say that after reconciliation is done, the problems will be getting solved.

Before that happens though, the vibes right now are much improved in the group, Democratic and Republican Problem Solvers tell her. With the focus on a purley GOP bill, “there’s not a ton of activity,” Rep. Blake Moore, a Republican Solver, told her, “but still good relationships and still people meeting and stuff.”

—Evan McMorris-Santoro | Read what we know about the changes. | Read about the Solvers.

Calling in the Big Dog

Lately, the only way to unite the GOP around something many in the party are not thrilled about is to have Trump make it happen.

NOTUS’ Reese Gorman and Jasmine Wright report that White House staff yesterday began inviting reconciliation holdouts to meetings, which is exactly what people like Johnson are asking for to help clear the legislative logjam.

But our reporters did not find a White House eager to barnstorm around the country or publicly drum up votes for a bill still in politically fraught negotiations over Medicaid cuts. “The president is engaged in his own way,” an administration official told them.

Trump “has been involved behind closed doors,” they write. Does that include working the phones? Of course. The president is pushing for unity “in a lot of ways, including the most obvious way,” the official said.

Read more on what Trump is up to.

Not Us

We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.

• How Trump took over the world’s glitziest film festival, by Giorgio Leali for Politico
• On Education, DeSantis’s Florida Paved the Way for Trump’s America, by Dana Goldstein for The New York Times
• The argument’s over: Americans pay for tariffs, by Ben Berkowitz for Axios

The Primaries Are Gonna Be Lit

Democrats will be hashing out the future of their party right out in the open if early signs of primary-candidate interest bear out, NOTUS’ Alex Roarty reports.

A “record number of state legislative candidates have announced campaigns for an election later this year” in Virginia, he writes, and “tens of thousands of Democrats have signaled interest in running” in local races.

Political strategists typically fighting each other for work “now joke about having too many clients to work for because so many candidates are running,” Alex writes.

Read about the thousands of candidates.

Exclusive: The DNC’s Banner Organizing Year

Despite it being an off year and the party’s flagging poll numbers, Democratic National Committee leaders tell NOTUS’ Nuha Dolby that 16,000 volunteers have been activated so far in 2025, the “largest-ever organizing program in a nonelection year.”

In a memo set to go out this morning, DNC leaders say the new focus on organizing promised by Chair Ken Martin is paying off: “Democrats are consistently overperforming in elections across the country, to the tune of 22 overperformances in 24 elections in the first five months of 2025 alone,” the memo reads.

Read the rest of it.

Everything’s Bigger (and More Complicated) in Texas

Republicans are not as excited about their coming primary season, particularly when it comes to Sen. John Cornyn, who is consistently down in (very early) polls to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

NOTUS’ Reese Gorman, Daniella Diaz and Ursula Perano report that Republicans who were planning on not spending a lot of time or money defending this seat against a Democrat next year are getting nervous. “It feels like Republicans are slow-walking into a disaster in Texas,” a senior GOP aide told them.

Read more on what they’re worried about.

Third Country Deportations Under Court Pressure

A case underway in a Massachusetts federal district court could determine whether the Trump admin can go ahead with its plan to ramp up deportations to countries eager to accept migrants, such as Libya, rather than those migrants’ countries of origin.

NOTUS’ Casey Murray reports on the case that is really about the administration “trying to push the limits of due process” and a court trying to determine what those limits are.

Go deep on the case and its implications.

Front Page

• Trump Puts Pressure on Russia and Ukraine for a Ceasefire: The president said Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations.”
• Why Democrats Don’t Love Glenn Youngkin’s Latest Efforts to Shield Virginia From Trump’s Cuts: Youngkin used his veto power to cut $900 million in planned spending to add to the state’s rainy day fund earlier this month. Democrats say the cuts are coming from the wrong programs.
• The White House Wants Work Requirements for Medicaid, Leavitt Says: House Republicans are still hashing out changes to their reconciliation bill, with a vote coming as early as this week.

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