Congress: The Senate & The House

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Thune's Trump cleanup

A pair of unforced errors from President Trump have left Senate Majority Leader John Thune struggling to lock down the votes for the $70 billion skinny spending bill he promised back in April.

• Doubts about Trump's political judgment — which erupted over his proposed $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund — flared anew today over his decision to make Bill Pulte the acting director of national intelligence.

🔎 Why it matters: Republican senators and aides privately indicated that Thune currently doesn't have 50 votes to pass a spending bill that Trump could sign.

• Republicans have stripped out a Department of Justice provision — a proposed $1.5 billion anti-fraud fund — to streamline the bill. The goal is to make it procedurally harder for Democrats to offer amendments related to the anti-weaponization fund.
• Thune is relying on today's House testimony from the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, who previewed his comments to the majority leader, to help steady the conference and unlock funding for ICE and Border Patrol.
• "We're not moving forward with the fund. Period," Blanche told lawmakers.

Between the lines: Some Republicans suggested that Pulte's ODNI appointment could complicate the ongoing FISA Section 702 reauthorization efforts, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) calling it a "distraction."

• Democrats were more explicit in linking the two issues. "His appointment at ODNI is one more reason every single Democrat should vote against rubber stamping the Trump administration's FISA Section 702 spying powers," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said.

😤 The bottom line: "We don't need a weaponized DNI. We need professionals there," Thune said of Trump's plan to install Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as a temporary replacement for Tulsi Gabbard at ODNI.

• "I see no evidence of any qualifications for that job," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said.
• "The best I can tell you is he's not qualified, but I don't know anything about him other than that," Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said.

— Hans Nichols

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🍊 Dems go to war over new seats

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries took what some of his members see as an extraordinary step today, stopping short of supporting Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) for reelection.

⚡️ Why it matters: Jeffries always supports his incumbents, but Wasserman Schultz — who is on his leadership team — has outraged some colleagues by deciding to run in a district long represented by Black Democrats.

• "People are pissed off," one senior House Democrat told us.
• Wasserman Schultz has faced condemnation from state and local Black elected officials for running in the state's 20th district after Republicans drew her out of her current 25th district seat.

🎤 Driving the news: "Haven't made a decision as it relates to that particular race," Jeffries said at a press conference when asked whether he is supporting Wasserman Schultz for reelection.

• "Everybody has a right to run where they see fit. They've got to go make their case to the people that they hope to represent moving forward, and that's what I communicated directly to Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz," he added.
• Jeffries said "we all recognize the sensitivities of the moment in terms of an unprecedented Jim Crow-like assault on black political representation," even as he touted Wasserman Schultz's "strong track record of accomplishment."
• "It's an environment that all of us need to be sensitive to as we move forward."

✍️ The other side: "I'm thankful for the strong and broad support I've received all over CD20," Wasserman Schultz said in a statement to us.

• "I'll continue to talk with Broward voters and make my case that I'll be the most effective representative for this whole community, and as always, I'm not taking any support for granted."

⌛️ Between the lines: Jeffries didn't fully close the door on endorsing Wasserman Schultz, and there is still plenty of time before the state's August 18 primary for him to endorse her.

• There are 10 days until the state's congressional filing deadline.

— Andrew Solender

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Thune's breaking point

The shift over the past few weeks has been subtle but unmistakable: John Thune sounds like he's had it with President Trump, Axios' Mike Zapler writes.

• Why it matters: In a departure from the past 18 months, the Senate majority leader has broken with POTUS on a string of recent controversies.

🏛️ It's a sign that Trump's sway with congressional Republicans is waning as he approaches the back half of his term.

• Trump named Bill Pulte — a MAGA attack dog who's used his position as the federal housing finance chief to go after the president's enemies — acting director of national intelligence yesterday, despite no apparent intelligence experience.
• Thune's verdict: "We don't need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there." If the White House wants Pulte in the job permanently, "he's got a lengthy road ahead of him," the Senate leader added.

🖼️ Friction point: Thune, in his low-key manner, has made his differences with Trump known repeatedly in recent weeks.

• "I'm not a big fan," Thune said of Trump's proposed $1.78 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, which he said "doesn't pass the smell test."
• After the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian ruled that money for Trump's proposed ballroom couldn't go in an immigration enforcement bill, the president demanded she be fired. Thune wouldn't bite.
• Thune was visibly disappointed when Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Texas Republican Senate primary — after months urging the president to get behind his friend and colleague, Sen. John Cornyn. Cornyn lost in a rout.

🥊 Reality check: Thune has been with the president on his biggest priorities, from tariffs and nominees to immigration and tax cuts in the "One Big Beautiful Bill."

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‼️ Playing chicken on FISA

Senate Republicans are separating their outrage over Bill Pulte's appointment as acting director of national intelligence from their conviction that Section 702 of FISA needs to be renewed.

• But their House colleagues aren't hopping on board.

🕵️‍♀️ Why it matters: For the moment, the usual hostage-takers in Senate Majority Leader John Thune's GOP conference are not taking a hostage. Policy is trumping personnel.

• "I support FISA reauthorization. I do not support Pulte," said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
• "He's just not qualified," Tillis said. "He's probably going to make reauthorization more problematic just by being out there."
• "I don't think the two issues should be related," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told us.

👎 Driving the news: With FISA expiring on June 12, Republicans will likely need at least eight Senate Democrats — and Democrats are clearly open to tanking FISA to pressure Trump to pull Pulte.

• "I have yet to talk to a Republican who doesn't think this is an outrageous choice," Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told reporters. "I am keeping all the options on the table."
• "We cannot even entertain the idea of renewing FISA while President Trump is installing his unqualified loyalist as the acting Director of National Intelligence," Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) said.

⚠️ Thune cautioned Democrats against threatening the emerging Section 702 deal over Pulte.

• "I just think it's a really risky strategy on their part," Thune told reporters.
• "Obviously, I get their frustration, but at the end of the day, we have to function here. We've got to keep the country safe."

🌋 Zoom out: Anger and disbelief over Pulte leading ODNI is also erupting in the House, where lawmakers typically don't have the option of scuttling presidential appointments over policy differences.

• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is flexing his power on a vote that's expected to require some Democrats to pass the House.
• "FISA was already on life support in terms of Democratic support, and the decision to put a deeply unserious, dangerous and unqualified person like Bill Pulte into a position as the acting director of national intelligence is about to cause the plug to be pulled," Jeffries told reporters.

😨 Between the lines: Opposition from both House conservatives and Democrats leaves Speaker Mike Johnson with few options as lawmakers race to prevent a lapse in surveillance authorities.

• Johnson doesn't seem to have the votes to move the measure under suspension, which would require support from two-thirds of the House.
• And members are already warning about passing another short-term extension. "We grow weary of these short-term extensions," Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said.
• Higgins and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) both told us the rule vote to move the bill to the House floor could be in trouble, with Higgins saying he's "probably" a no.

The bottom line: Concessions made to appease House conservatives in the Senate's FISA bill haven't gone far enough to win their support, members told us.

• "Some [senators] haven't been receptive to House ideas," Davidson told us. "It's abundantly clear in the public eye there's a disconnect between the House and Senate on this."

— Hans Nichols and Kate Santaliz

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House rebukes Trump

Four of Speaker Johnson's House Republicans joined Democrats this afternoon in voting for a War Powers resolution on Iran.

Why it matters: It may be symbolic, but it's Congress' first successful rebuke of Trump's Iran war effort after multiple failed attempts.

• Democrats' most recent attempt failed last month in a stunning 212-212 tie vote.
• This time around, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), the one Democrat who has consistently voted against Iran war powers resolutions, flipped and voted yes.
• Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) voted in support of the measure.

The bottom line: The measure would still need to pass the GOP-controlled Senate — and even then, Trump could just veto it.

— Kate Santaliz

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🏛️ Senate GOP rebellion

President Trump eased one fight with Senate Republicans — scrapping his $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" — only to spark another by tapping Bill Pulte for director of national intelligence, Axios' Mike Zapler writes.

• Why it matters: This time, the stakes are even higher: Democrats are threatening to let some of the government's spy powers lapse next week unless Trump yanks the appointment.
• Most of the time, Democratic outrage over Trump's latest move doesn't amount to much. But Republicans need Democratic votes to prevent a key section of FISA from lapsing June 12.

🎨 The big picture: Some of the sharpest criticism has come from Trump's own party — particularly the retiring senators he has scorned.

• Thune himself didn't mince words about Pulte. "We don't need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there," he said.

Keep reading.

House approves war powers resolution to halt military action against Iran in a rebuke of Trump Cheers erupted in the chamber as the House for the first time Wednesday approved a war powers resolution. Four Republicans joined Democrats. President Donald Trump would likely reject any measure from Congress to limit his commander-in-chief authority. Read more.

Why this matters: It’s the fourth time the House has tried to curb the U.S. war against Iran. House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would show the mounting opposition to the war, abruptly shutting down floor action two weeks ago when the resolution was on the verge of approval. But displeasure has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Trump struggles to negotiate a plan for peace.    The Senate advanced its own war powers resolution last month when a handful of GOP senators broke ranks with the Republican president in a rare show of political pushback from his party.

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🎭 Vote-a-drama

The Senate vote-a-rama is exposing a new class of vulnerable Republicans — and how Senate Majority Leader John Thune plans to protect them.

• 🔎 Why it matters: Most vote-a-ramas are performative. This one is revealing.

⚠️ The intrigue: In the day's opening act — a series of Democratic amendments designed to force uncomfortable votes for Republicans — Thune relied on Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to help defeat a Democratic proposal targeting the Trump administration's "anti-weaponization fund."

• Cassidy's vote allowed a pair of politically vulnerable Republicans — Sens. Jon Husted (Ohio) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) — to side with Democrats without jeopardizing the amendment's defeat.
• For both senators, it marked one of their first meaningful breaks with a president whose political standing appears to be sliding.
• The vote failed, 49-50. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined Husted and Sullivan in voting for the amendment.

🎈 Zoom in: On Trump's ballroom, the universe of Republicans willing to buck their party expanded, with six GOP senators voting with Democrats to bar any funds for it. But the threshold for that vote was at 60, leading it to fail.

• Collins, Husted and Sullivan again voted with the Democrats.
• But so did Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Cassidy. Moran is up for reelection in 2028.

📉 Zoom out: The vote-a-rama comes as Senate Republicans grapple with deteriorating polling and a series of Trump decisions that have led some GOP senators to question his political judgment.

• Many Republicans are privately skeptical of Trump's choice of FHFA Director Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence.
• Trump sought to ease concerns today by announcing that Pulte would not be his permanent nominee — a move aimed in part at preventing the nomination from complicating the reauthorization of Section 702 of FISA.

Between the lines: Even if Republicans defeat all the Democrats' amendments on the vote-a-rama, final passage isn't assured, especially if the "anti-weaponization fund" isn't definitively addressed.

• "There's enough people who really have great, grave concerns about the fund," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said.

🛡️ The bottom line: Cassidy, whom Trump forced into an early retirement, is serving as a political shield for colleagues trying to avoid a similar fate.

— Hans Nichols

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🤺 Dems vs. Dems on War Powers vote

The majority of House Democrats voted with Republicans today to defeat a Lebanon war powers resolution forced to the House floor by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).

Why it matters: It's a blow to the anti-war left just a day after the House passed a similar measure constraining Trump's ability to wage war in Iran.

• Democratic leadership spent months behind the scenes ahead of yesterday's war powers vote to get the party's most staunchly pro-Israel lawmakers on board, along with a handful of Republicans.
• Today's vote reveals that there are still deep divisions between progressive and centrist Democrats on Middle East policy despite their unity on Iran.

Driving the news: The House voted 92 to 324 against Tlaib's resolution, which would have directed President Trump to remove all U.S. armed forces from Lebanon within seven days of passage.

What they're saying: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his top deputies came out against the resolution ahead of the vote, saying in a statement, "there are no U.S. service-members involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon."

• The leaders would support an alternative resolution that would preserve U.S. coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces in their fight against Hezbollah, they said.

— Andrew Solender

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Senate OKs $70B immigration bill after rejecting efforts to permanently ban Trump’s settlement fund

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies early Friday, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-settlement-fund-ice-border-patrol-vote-93b9f5b487997b629d87bf59a046d7ec?

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😬 Tanked by Trump

Senate Majority Leader John Thune accused Democrats of taking a "terribly irresponsible position" by voting against a FISA extension, but he'll still need their help to pass legislation next week.

‼️ Why it matters: The Senate's struggle to extend FISA is increasingly tied to President Trump's decision to name FHFA director Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence.

• Republican senators have openly questioned Pulte's qualifications, but they have spent the week arguing that his appointment should be kept separate from the debate over FISA reauthorization.
• Democrats have brushed aside Thune's warnings that blocking an extension is a "really risky strategy."
• "We'll take another run at it. We're gonna need some help from Democrats, obviously," Thune told reporters.

Section 702 surveillance authorities could lapse next week. The Senate has so far failed to pass a reauthorization measure, and some House Republicans have little interest in another short-term extension.

🛟 Zoom in: Thune suggested that rescuing FISA may require help not only from Democrats, but also from the White House.

• Trump's declaration that Pulte is not his permanent choice for DNI has done little to ease Democratic concerns about his appointment.
• Thune said Pulte's role is "something the administration will have to consider" and "Democrats will have to think about."
• "But next week it gets real," he said.

🛑 Between the lines: Even if GOP leaders find a way to get Democrats on board, Speaker Mike Johnson still faces resistance from his own members.

• Concessions, like a three-year central bank digital currency ban, haven't been enough to satisfy conservatives, who want harsher warrant requirements.
• Johnson likely won't have the two-thirds support needed to move the bill under suspension, and some on his right flank are already threatening the rule vote.

What's next: GOP leaders are viewing another short-term extension of the program as an increasingly likely outcome.

• It would be Congress' third extension of the program, a prospect that's testing the patience of some House Republicans.
• "We grow weary of these short-term extensions," Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) told us.

— Hans Nichols and Kate Santaliz

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House passes $70B bill to fund immigration enforcement for 3 years, sending to Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bill to provide nearly $70 billion for immigration enforcement narrowly passed the House on Tuesday and now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature, bolstering the administration’s deportation agenda for the remainder of his time in the White House.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-funding-trump-congress-republicans-c395a434f47fa41a7131369847091910?

Bill Gates testimony

Bill Gates will testify behind closed doors on Capitol Hill today after the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files this year raised questions about the billionaire's ties to the late convicted sex offender. The testimony will mark one of the most high-profile appearances before congressional investigators to date. Read more.

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👎 FISA on the ropes

Section 702 of FISA appears set to expire this weekend after House Speaker Mike Johnson's meeting with President Trump failed to produce a breakthrough.

Why it matters: Democrats are threatening to block a FISA reauthorization unless Trump withdraws his nomination of Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence.

• Trump is showing no interest there: He posted tonight that he'll have Pulte formally take over the acting DNI duties on June 19.
• Johnson spent this morning in the Situation Room with Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials discussing a path forward on FISA.
• "We can't let [FISA] go dark," Johnson told reporters today.

Driving the news: Johnson said Trump is "very close" to selecting a permanent nominee for the job.

• "It's an important position, and one that I think will be filled by a highly qualified person," Johnson said.
• Current DNI Tulsi Gabbard had been expected to remain in the position through June 30.

The standoff is frustrating even Pulte-skeptical Republicans, who argue Democrats are jeopardizing a critical national security tool over an unrelated personnel fight.

• "I don't agree with his nomination, and I don't agree with them voting against FISA because of it," Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) told us.
• "How do you go dark on FISA? It's terrible," he added. "People should have to go on the record on that."

The bottom line: Lawmakers have just three days to prevent one of the government's most consequential surveillance authorities from expiring.

— Kate Santaliz

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⌛️ Running out of time

One of America's most valuable spy powers is on track to expire Friday after President Trump refused to back down from a coming purge that has blown up Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune's carefully negotiated FISA deal.

• Johnson will try a last-ditch vote tomorrow to extend the program's surveillance authorities through July 2. It's expected to fail.

💣 Why it matters: Johnson and Thune were this close to a deal that could have likely passed both chambers with bipartisan votes, and then Trump named Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence.

• Trump wants Pulte "to execute the immediate and needed downsizing" of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he posted today on Truth Social.

🛑 Now Democrats are refusing to back another extension of Section 702 unless Trump reverses his decision to name Pulte to the acting DNI job.

• "Bill Pulte cannot serve a minute as acting director of national intelligence, and until that elevation is abandoned, there's nothing really to talk about," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters today.
• "Pulte is just one of the most vicious, incapable, non-fact-based people I've ever seen in the government," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Punchbowl News.

📖 Zoom out: Section 702 of FISA feeds more than half of the president's daily briefing and has been credited with helping thwart terror plots and other national-security threats.

• "It'd be a very dangerous time to allow us to not have that important national security tool," Johnson said today.
• "I'm the only one in this institution that's actually used 702 to save lives," Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) told us. "It is critical to the president's daily brief. It's the single most important 9/11 commission recommendation that we have, and it's at risk of going dark due to foolishness."

🕵️‍♀️ Section 702 allows the U.S. attorney general and director of national intelligence to compel electronic service providers to provide communications involving foreign intelligence targets overseas.

• Intelligence agencies and telecommunications companies will face immediate legal uncertainty over what collection activities may continue.

The bottom line: Not every Democrat is comfortable allowing the authority to expire, but Johnson is nowhere close to the necessary two-thirds majority and Republicans aren't signaling support for a short-term extension.

• "I'm not going to play politics with our national security, that's ... you know, that's for Donald Trump to do," Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told us.
• Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), who has been pushing for reforms to the program, told us he's considering voting against a short-term extension. "They ask guys like us, 'Well, could you please give us a little more time to get this done?' You grow tired of that crap after a while."

— Kate Santaliz

House Oversight Committee questions Bill Gates about his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein from 2011 to 2014 in closed hearing; Gates says Epstein sought to blackmail him over his affairs with Russian women but denies illicit conduct (More) | Who's in the Epstein files? (More)

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🏛️ Spy powers in deep trouble

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

One of America's most powerful spy authorities is nearing an unprecedented lapse, threatening to plunge intelligence agencies and telecommunications companies into legal uncertainty if allowed to go dark tomorrow, Axios' Kate Santaliz writes. Why it matters: Members in both parties are warning that an expiration of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act could jeopardize U.S. national security. Section 702 feeds more than half of the president's daily briefing and has been credited with helping thwart terror plots. It allows the attorney general and director of national intelligence to compel electronic service providers to provide communications involving foreign intelligence targets overseas. 🔎 Zoom in: Democrats are refusing to back an extension of Section 702 unless Trump reverses his decision to name Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. Before Trump picked Pulte, GOP lawmakers appeared close to assembling a bipartisan coalition for a longer-term 702 extension. Keep reading.

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Bill Gates testifies about his ties to Epstein, calls meeting him a ‘grave error in judgment’ Bill Gates said Wednesday that he “should never have met with Epstein in the first place,” but that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct.” Read more.

Why this matters: The tech billionaire became the latest powerful figure linked to the disgraced financier to testify before the House Oversight Committee. As Gates arrived at the Capitol, he noted that his appearance was voluntary. He did not take questions from reporters at the conclusion of the interview late Wednesday afternoon.    Most Democratic members who participated in Wednesday's questioning described Gates as cooperative. They said some of the most useful information he provided involved other influential people in Epstein’s orbit. Lawmakers also said they pressed Gates on why he continued interacting with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Gates says he hopes his testimony will help lawmakers ‘find justice for the victims’