| | | |  | | By Lisa Kashinsky and Mia McCarthy | | Presented by |  | | | WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: Before we get to the news, please fill out this survey and let us know what you think of the new Inside Congress. We’ll take your feedback and work to make this an even better read. Thank you. IN TODAY'S EDITION:
- Trump endorses stopgap to September
- House tax chief concerned with Senate plans
- Caine’s MAGA cap problem
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Top Senate appropriator Susan Collins has been asked to prepare a spending stopgap through September, while DOGE cuts threaten to complicate funding talks. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | Signs are increasingly pointing to a full-year government funding patch as Congress barrels toward the March 14 shutdown deadline without a deal on overall spending totals. President Donald Trump endorsed a “a clean, temporary government funding Bill … to the end of September” in a social media post Thursday night. That backing came after Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune discussed the idea with Trump during a meeting Wednesday at the White House, two people familiar with the conversation told our colleague Meredith Lee Hill. Trump gave his sign-off in that meeting, but the public support will be critical for some fiscal hard-liners who are generally critical of stopgaps, known as continuing resolutions or CRs. GOP leaders quietly tasked top Senate appropriator Susan Collins with preparing a stopgap through September, she confirmed to Lisa earlier Thursday, though the Maine Republican insisted at the time it was just "one option." A complicating factor: Senior Republicans are looking at how to shoehorn cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency into the government funding bill — a move that threatens to ratchet up tensions with Democrats and raise the chances of a shutdown. Top GOP leaders have been discussing the idea with Trump’s team, three people granted anonymity to describe the conversations told Meredith and Rachael Bade. Though it’s far from final, the idea would be to codify some of the “most egregious” examples of alleged waste found by Musk’s team into a spending patch through the end of the fiscal year. That’s another way to potentially win support from some House hard-liners. But it would be a nonstarter for Democrats, who are already balking at Republicans’ refusal to put guardrails in the bill that would stop Trump and Musk from clawing back congressionally approved funding. And the GOP will almost certainly need Democrats here. Even key Republicans are skeptical of the idea. “I don’t see how that could work,” Collins told reporters. Two other GOP appropriators were similarly confused. The White House has sent a list of requested anomalies — proposed changes to an otherwise straight funding extension — to congressional Republicans, who are reviewing them. TGIF. Your Inside Congress hosts met Babydog. Follow our live coverage at the Inside Congress blog at politico.com/congress and email your Inside Congress scribes at lkashinsky@politico.com and mmccarthy@politico.com.
| | | | A message from ReMA: From critical infrastructure to everyday essential items, America's recycled materials industry is using the latest innovations to deliver for our supply chain, the economy and the nation. Learn more about how America is made with recycled materials. | | | THE SKED The House is out. The Senate is out. Next week: The Senate will vote on Monday to advance a bill from Sen. Tommy Tuberville that would ban transgender athletes in women's sports. House Rules will look at resolutions to reverse three Biden-era energy regulations under the Congressional Review Act: one on energy conservation for appliances, another on emissions standards for tire manufacturing and a third affecting offshore drilling. The Rules panel is planning meetings on every fly-in day going forward, with a focus on moving more CRAs. THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
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Sen. Elissa Slotkin will deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump's joint address to Congress next week. | Carlos Osorio/AP | Chuck Schumer looks for a win with Slotkin Democrats announced first-term Sen. Elissa Slotkin will give their response to Trump’s joint address to Congress next week, with Rep. Adriano Espaillat delivering a Spanish version, our colleague Nicholas Wu reports. Slotkin is one of the few Democratic senators elected in 2024 from states that Trump won. The Michigan Democrat told reporters on Thursday that she would be working through the weekend — and hinted she might discuss her state’s ties to the auto industry and electric vehicle manufacturing. “I'm from a state that feels a lot of these economic issues pretty powerfully,” Slotkin said. More Musk management Johnson told reporters Thursday he’s trying to schedule a meeting between Musk and House Republicans — “either small groups of members, appropriators or maybe all” GOP members — after meeting with the billionaire at the White House late Tuesday. Sen. Rick Scott said he’s yet to schedule when Musk will attend a Senate GOP lunch, though members of the chamber’s DOGE caucus met with him Thursday at the White House, where they pushed Musk to coordinate more with Congress on his cuts. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has been critical of Musk, took it a step further Thursday, saying she wants to hear directly from the heads of the departments his team is targeting: “I would like a secretary, I would like a confirmed person to just tell me what the hell is going on instead of DOGE,” she said. Thune’s transgender bill test The Senate majority leader teed up an initial vote for Monday evening on barring transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports. The bill, which has already passed the House, could politically squeeze a handful of Senate Democrats but is unlikely to get the 60 votes needed to move forward, our Jordain Carney reports. Next on nominees Thune also has a fresh batch of nominees to steer through confirmation votes, starting with Education secretary pick Linda McMahon on Monday evening. Also likely next week: Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who advanced favorably from Senate HELP on Thursday, overcoming a “no” vote from Sen. Rand Paul with the help of three Democrats — Sens. Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine and John Hickenlooper. And Dan Bishop’s nomination as OMB deputy director is advancing toward the floor. Still on ice: Elise Stefanik's UN ambassador nomination. Thune said this week he's still awaiting White House direction on when her House vote can be spared, Jordain reports.
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| | | POLICY RUNDOWN ALSO AT THE WHITE HOUSE — Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith voiced “huge concerns” over the Senate’s tax plans during a White House meeting on Wednesday, our Benjamin Guggenheim reports. Smith told Ben on Thursday that he’s worried the accounting tactic that the Senate is considering to significantly lower the cost of the plan, at least on paper, might not make it past the Senate’s independent legislative referee. Similarly, during their talks at the White House, GOP leaders and Trump looked at tariffs as another potential way to pay for the president’s tax request, Meredith reports. But Sen. Ted Cruz told reporters he was worried that tariffs on Canada and Mexico would impact the Texas economy, our colleague Dan Desrochers writes. NIL ON THE HILL — House Judiciary will have a roundtable on name, image and likeness issues in college athletics in mid-April, our Hailey Fuchs reports. The issue has been discussed on Capitol Hill for years, with many lawmakers introducing legislation to regulate college athletes' ability to profit off their personal brand, but no real federal action. MAGA HAT PROBLEMS — Trump’s choice to lead the Joint Chiefs of Staff is facing a major challenge over a story about a MAGA hat, our colleagues Paul McCleary and Joe Gould report. Trump has recounted a story about Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine that involves Caine telling Trump he “loved” him and would “kill” for him before donning the hat when they met in Iraq in 2018. The episode could violate military rules. Caine has not commented publicly on the incident. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Caine will have to “explain what happened.” RICKROLLING AND EPSTEIN — House Judiciary Republicans posted a puzzling message on X Thursday, announcing the files around the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, which Republicans have been antsy to see, had been released. But the link instead pointed to a music video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” — what’s commonly called rickrolling. The joke didn’t go over well in the replies, including with GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who responded on X: "Whoever posted this is going to get fired. Disgusting behavior." Attorney General Pam Bondi later that night released the first batch of declassified Epstein files. FRANK LUCAS Q&A — Rep. Frank Lucas, the chair of House Financial Services' new monetary policy task force, wants to review whether the Federal Reserve can accomplish its dual mandate of balancing price stability and promoting maximum employment. “Is it possible to do both?” he asked Jasper Goodman and Kate Hapgood in an interview. Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
CAMPAIGN CORNER Democratic Rep. Angie Craig has a clearer path toward Minnesota’s open Senate seat now that Gov. Tim Walz has said he won’t run to succeed retiring Sen. Tina Smith. Craig, the top Democrat on House Agriculture, started making calls soliciting feedback on a potential run the day Walz made his decision public, she told our Nicholas Wu and Ally Mutnick.
| | | | Donald Trump's unprecedented effort to reshape the federal government is consuming Washington. To track this seismic shift, we're relaunching one of our signature newsletters. Sign up to get West Wing Playbook: Remaking Government in your inbox. | | | | | THE BEST OF THE REST Behind the scenes, GOP senators challenge legality of Trump’s aid cuts, from Liz Goodwin at The Washington Post Bill Cassidy Is Already Pressing RFK Jr. on Vaccine Policy, from Margaret Manto and Helen Huiskes at NOTUS Tennessee Congressman John Rose ‘actively making plans’ for gubernatorial bid, from Alicia Patton at WKRN Staff Flee House’s ‘Nightmare’ MAGA Assassinations Hunter, from Juliegrace Brufke at The Daily Beast CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE Former Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, who was a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee before his retirement earlier this year, will be the new chief executive of the American Consumer & Investor Institute, a group that advocates on regulation of fintechs and cryptocurrency. John Tanner is joining CGCN Group as a partner, after serving as deputy staff director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee under Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso. Arie Dana is joining the Republican Jewish Coalition as deputy director of government affairs and director of executive branch relations. He most recently was chief of staff for Rep. Michelle Steel. Mike Wakefield has joined Holland & Knight as a partner in the public policy and regulation group and the firm’s newly launched national security and defense industry group. Wakefield was most recently senior counsel and a professional staff member on the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. JOB BOARD Josh Jamison is the new wildfire policy adviser for Sen. Tim Sheehy. Bettina Weiss is now director of political affairs for Sen. Elissa Slotkin. She most recently was executive director for House Minority Whip Katherine Clark.
| | | | A message from ReMA: America's highways and bridges. The cars, phones and laptops we depend on every day. They're all made with Recycled Materials. From transportation to critical infrastructure to essential items, America's recycled materials industry is working hard to power the supply chain, strengthen the economy and get you where you need to go. Learn more about how America is made with recycled materials. | | | HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ira Forman … Porter DeLaney... POLITICO’s Charlie Mahtesian … Andrea Riccio … Manhattan Institute’s Kelsey Bloom … Food for the Hungry’s Kristen Callaway… Tiffany Haas of Senate HELP … Ned Ryun … Drew Ryun … Trinity Hall of Sen. Chris Coons’ office … Alivia Roberts … Jessica Chau… Marcus Childress TRIVIA THURSDAY’S ANSWER: Bobby McMillin correctly answered that Sen. Markwayne Mullin currently occupies the candy desk. TODAY’S QUESTION, from Bobby: What agency began with a single scientist and was originally called the Department of Agriculture's Division of Chemistry? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | |
