Mike Johnson has spent his 19 months as speaker forging a close relationship with President Donald Trump — in part to avoid the social-media bombshells that derailed so many Republican priorities during Trump’s first term. Now he has to deal with another, perhaps even more unpredictable online bomb-thrower. Elon Musk’s decision to launch a sudden […]
Billionaire Elon Musk targeted congressional Republican leaders Thursday, attacking Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader John Thune on social media over the cost of Donald Trump’s domestic agenda after openly breaking with the president. Musk shared two previous social media posts from Johnson and Thune where the GOP leaders had voiced concern about the […]
President Donald Trump publicly chastised Elon Musk — his onetime adviser and a major political benefactor — on Thursday, amid the Tesla CEO’s continued attempts to take down the cornerstone of Republicans’ legislative agenda. Responding to a question about Musk’s posts during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House, Trump […]
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley said he wants to see changes to a provision in the House-passed “big, beautiful bill” that could limit judges’ ability to enforce court orders. Under the provision, U.S. courts can’t use federal funds to enforce a contempt order unless the party bringing the case gives a so-called security — or […]
Senate Republicans are eyeing possible Medicare provisions to help offset the cost of their megabill as they try to appease budget hawks who want more spending cuts embedded in the legislation. Making changes to Medicare, the federal health insurance program primarily serving seniors, would be a political longshot: It would face fierce backlash from some […]
Senate Majority Leader John Thune sounded supportive Thursday of the House-passed 10-year moratorium on enforcing state and local artificial intelligence laws, but conceded it remained an open question if it would comply with the chamber’s rules. “That issue got fairly carefully litigated in the House,” Thune said in response to a question from POLITICO. “The […]
House Oversight Committee Democrats have once again failed to subpoena Elon Musk to testify on Capitol Hill. The panel rejected the minority party’s request Thursday morning for the former DOGE chief to appear before lawmakers in a party-line, 21-20 votes. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), the committee’s acting ranking member, argued that Musk, DOGE and the […]
Pity Speaker Mike Johnson this morning. Not only does he have to deal with Elon Musk trying to sabotage the “big, beautiful bill,” Johnson is now staring down Senate tax writers who are doubling down on threats to scale back his carefully negotiated deal to raise the state and local tax deduction cap. Senate Finance […]
Lawmakers seem to have reached a breakthrough over language for a spectrum provision in the GOP’s tax and spending megabill, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told POLITICO Wednesday. The House proposal aimed to open up 600 MHz of spectrum for commercial use, alarming national security hawks, who warned that it would encroach on important military and […]
The secretive board overseeing the Capitol Police has narrowed its search down to two choices for the next chief of the department: former Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan and former Secret Service Director Randolph “Tex” Alles, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private deliberations. The people said a final decision was expected […]