Today’s notice: Trump will have the final say on reconciliation, but will Elon Musk have the final say on a shutdown? And don’t expect your DOGE check any time soon. Plus! Watch reporters talk Trump 2.0 at NOTUS HQ.
The Shutdown X-Factor
As lawmakers scramble to pass a stopgap funding extension until October to avert a government shutdown, there’s a fear on Capitol Hill that a certain wild card might throw a wrench in any carefully laid plans.
Elon Musk.
As NOTUS’ Haley Byrd Wilt and Ben T.N. Mause report, Musk has flirted with a shutdown, writing on X that it “Sounds great.” The theoretical appeal of a government shutdown to the man tasked with dismantling the government from the inside is obvious.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed. Cabinet secretaries would have broad discretion over who qualifies as an “essential worker.” And the government would stop funding programs that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has already gutted.
Some lawmakers — while stopping short of endorsing a shutdown — see the logic.
“I will fight against the spending bill because I think to continue, particularly foreign aid at the current level, is really to ignore all of the waste that they’re finding with DOGE,” Sen. Rand Paul told NOTUS.
It’s hardly surprising that Paul would oppose a continuing resolution given his long track record of voting against them. But no one in Congress understands the latitude top government officials get during a shutdown quite like Trump’s former interior secretary, Rep. Ryan Zinke.
“If you’re a Democrat, you don’t want to do this because you don’t want to give even more control to the administration to determine who’s critical and essential,” Zinke told NOTUS.
Though the shutdown price tag might deter Musk and the hardcore fiscal hawks from actively calling for one, all things considered, Sen. Thom Tillis put the chances of a spending lapse at “a coin toss.”
More DOGE: Life Comes at You Fast
On the one hand, there’s an extremely politically beneficial idea to turn whatever money DOGE finds into checks sent to Americans. But on the other hand, NOTUS’ Calen Razor reports, there’s that whole thing Republicans ran against last year. The dreaded I-word is back.
“People tell me it’s not inflationary, but it sure looks inflationary to me and it certainly was when we did that during COVID,” Rep. Tom Cole said, adding that though he wouldn’t automatically vote against the checks, “most Americans would want us to deal with inflation, deal with the debt.”
He’s not alone. “My fear is that when we send stimulus checks, it causes inflation, which we’re trying to get down right now,” Rep. Celeste Maloy told Calen.
Front Page
- Democratic Mayors Say Trump Is Wrong About Their Sanctuary Policies: The mayors of New York, Chicago, Boston and Denver said their immigration policies don’t protect criminals.
- The White House Said Trump Is in ‘Talks’ About Mineral Rights Deal with Ukraine: The minerals deal devolved after a heated Oval Office meeting last week, but things are sounding more optimistic.
- Texas Rep. Sylvester Turner Dies at Age 70: The House lawmaker was seen at the Capitol on Tuesday, introducing his guest for Trump’s joint address.
The Buck Stops With Trump
Last week, moderate and conservative House Republicans banded together to adopt Speaker Mike Johnson’s budget resolution. But if they’re going to back an actual budget reconciliation bill come April, someone will have to resolve their competing concerns.
Lawmakers told NOTUS’ Daniella Diaz and Reese Gorman that there’s only one man for the job: Donald Trump.
Reminder: Moderates worry about a bill that would slash too much from entitlement programs; conservatives want leadership to gut spending even more.
“Whatever the product ultimately looks like, you’re gonna need top cover from the president to sell it,” said one senior GOP lawmaker.
All In for Kemp
Georgia Republicans think they have the answer to reclaiming Sen. Jon Ossoff’s Senate seat. Problem is, he might not be interested.
Gov. Brian Kemp is flirting with a Senate run. Given his tough-on-Trump backstory and more recent make up with the president, NOTUS’ Ben T.N. Mause reports on how Kemp is well positioned to string together a winning GOP coalition against Ossoff. Recent polling showed Kemp as the only Republican in a clear position to unseat Ossoff.
“I hate to say it to you, but he’d win,” one person familiar with the Ossoff campaign said of Kemp, requesting anonymity to speak about the race. “He’d beat us.”
Quotable I: Where Republicans’ Line Is for Democrats
“I’ve never seen a member removed from the House floor by the sergeant-at-arms … I mean, he just wouldn’t stop. Just wouldn’t stop, which is a whole different comparison. Not that I’m proud of some of the past actions by members, like I said, it just seemed like we came to a point where we’ve got to draw a line.”
That’s Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse to Reese Gorman on his censure resolution against Rep. Al Green and how Green’s actions were different from when Republicans have heckled Democratic presidents in the past.
As Daniella Diaz and Reese report, some Democrats were not happy with Green’s frequent protests during Trump’s address to Congress, pointing to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s interruptions of Joe Biden’s speeches as a reason to respond respectfully.
Quotable II: Bhattacharya Hearing
“I don’t have my gavel. Sen. Murray said it was a DOGE cut.”
That was Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, opening Jay Bhattacharya’s confirmation hearing for head of the National Institutes of Health with a light-hearted joke about DOGE cuts, which have already impacted medical researchers at the agency.
Soon after, Bhattacharya, who publicly opposed many COVID-19 public health interventions, faced a line of questioning about vaccine safety research from Cassidy, and, as foreshadowed, questions about DOGE cuts from Sen. Patty Murray.
Not Us
We know NOTUS reporters can’t cover it all. Here’s some other great hits by… not us.
- A look inside Trump’s speech, through two Congress members’ cameras by Dylan Wells at The Washington Post
- How Elon Musk Muscled His Way Into the FAA by Jason Leopold, Allyson Versprille and Kelcee Griffis at Bloomberg
- How DOGE’s Cuts to the IRS Threaten to Cost More Than DOGE Will Ever Save by Andy Kroll at ProPublica
WATCH-US!
At our HQ in Georgetown on Wednesday, NOTUS hosted Fox News’ Bret Baier, Politico’s Dasha Burns, WSJ’s Josh Dawsey, CBS’s Major Garrett, ABC’s Jonathan Karl, MSNBC’s Ali Vitali and our very own Jasmine Wright to discuss “Covering Trump 2.0.”
Notably, Baier spoke about his interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which took place hours after the Ukrainian president’s tense meeting with Trump at the White House. Baier also did his Trump impression.
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