House GOP eyes exit over Epstein meltdown

Politico

5 days ago

IN TODAY'S EDITION:— House could leave early amid Epstein fight — Republicans head to the White House — Schumer, Jeffries to meet on shutdown strategy
Summer break might come early for the House, as Speaker Mike Johnson faces a Jeffrey Epstein problem that just won't quit.
Republican leaders are considering sending the House home as early as Wednesday, after a bipartisan clash over the so-called Epstein files broke the Rules Committee Monday night, Meredith Lee Hill reports. Rules recessed after Democrats threatened to force a vote on Epstein — a move that is now derailing floor action planned for this week.
Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Monday night the plan is still to stay until Thursday. The House can still work through suspension votes on relatively uncontroversial, bipartisan measures that can get two-thirds support from members.
'We're not sending anybody home,' Johnson said.
It's making for an awkward megabill celebration tonight at the White House, where Trump is planning to host Republican lawmakers.
GOP leaders have an understanding with the White House that the House will not vote on releasing further Epstein documents before the August recess.
'The Trump administration's petitioned the courts to release some of the sealed documents,' Scalise said in an interview. 'Hopefully, the court acts swiftly. It'd be important if they got that out.'
Rep. Thomas Massie, who has a discharge petition that would require the release of Epstein-related documents, is undeterred and warning that support for his effort will only be bigger when Congress returns in September. He says at least a dozen Republicans support his proposal – and he appears to have the backing of Theo Von as well.
GOOD TUESDAY MORNING. Only two days left of the Longworth Dunkin'. Email your Inside Congress crew at [e-mail], [e-mail] and [e-mail]. Follow our live coverage at politico.com/congress.
WHAT WE'RE WATCHINGWith help from Jordan Williams
The House will vote on the Wabeno Economic Development Act and Great Lakes Mass Marking Program Act of 2025 at 4:30 p.m.
The Senate will vote to confirm Terry Cole to be administrator of the DEA and Joshua Divine and Cristian Stevens to be U.S. district judges at 11 a.m.
The Senate will hold its first procedural vote on Emil Bove's nomination for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals and vote to end debate on the fiscal 2026 Military Construction-VA Appropriations bill at 2:15 p.m.
— House Republican and Democratic leaders will hold their weekly conference meetings at 9 a.m. and their weekly news conferences at 10 a.m. and 10:45 a.m., respectively.
— House Appropriations will mark up the fiscal 2026 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill at 10:30 a.m.
— Senate Republican and Democratic leaders will hold their weekly caucus lunches at 12:30 p.m. and their weekly briefings at 2 p.m.
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THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Schumer readies Democrats for funding fights
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is beginning to organize Democrats around a looming government funding battle, after he received intense criticism from the party's base for helping advance a GOP stop-gap measure in March.
Schumer will talk today with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss the funding endgame strategy, three people granted anonymity told Jordain Carney, Nicholas Wu and Jennifer Scholtes.
As Jordain reports in a new piece this morning, Schumer has been holding active, behind-the-scenes discussions and keeping in close touch with Democrats on the Appropriations Committee. He's in 'listening mode,' says Sen. Jack Reed, an appropriator.
Democrats haven't yet landed on their formal demand for Senate Republicans, who need their votes to advance a government funding bill.
Garbarino wins House Homeland Security gavel
Rep. Andrew Garbarino will be the new chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, after the Republican steering committee approved him after two ballots Monday night, Mia reports.
The New York Republican beat out Reps. Michael Guest, Carlos Giménez and Clay Higgins for the gavel. Previous chair Mark Green announced his retirement earlier this year and officially resigned from Congress on Monday.
Garbarino, who focused his pitch on his background in cybersecurity policy, is likely to make the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency a top priority for the panel. Garbarino is currently the chair of the cybersecurity and infrastructure protection subcommittee and will lead one of its hearings today.
POLICY RUNDOWN
CURTIS 'NOT YET SATISFIED' ON CLEAN ENERGY ORDER — Sen. John Curtis, who pushed to soften clean-energy rollbacks in the GOP megabill, says he's not yet satisfied with conversations he's had with the Treasury Department about the administration's recent executive order to sunset clean energy credits.
Curtis said in an interview Monday that he would have concerns if Treasury's 'intent is to change the IRS regulations.'
FINAL SCORE FOR GOP MEGABILL — CBO says in a new estimate that the GOP megabill will add $3.4 trillion to the federal deficit and lead to 10 million people losing their health insurance.
Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
CAMPAIGN STOP
MIKE COLLINS INCHES TOWARD SENATE RUN — GOP Rep. Mike Collins posted a video on X Monday hinting at a potential 2026 run for Georgia's Senate seat against Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff.
A person familiar with the Collins campaign told Gregory Svirnovskiy Monday that Collins is likely to officially announce a run soon. He would join Republican Rep. Buddy Carter and Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King in the race.
NORMAN FOR GOVERNOR? — Rep. Ralph Norman plans to announce Sunday whether he will run for governor of South Carolina, he told Jordain.
Norman, 72, has represented South Carolina's 5th District since 2017. Should he decide to launch a gubernatorial bid, he'd join longtime state Attorney General Alan Wilson and state Sen. Josh Kimbrell in the Republican primary.
TEXAS REPUBLICANS AVOID REDISTRICTING TALKS, FOR NOW — House Republicans in the Texas delegation say they're trying to stay out of a new push to redraw the state's congressional map, an initiative that the Texas legislature will take on in a special session convening today.
'I haven't made one phone call or email on the new maps,' Rep. Pete Sessions told Calen Monday. 'I think members will stay out of it. At least until we see the plan.'
Texas Reps. Michael Cloud and Tony Gonzalez also said they weren't trying to influence the plan. Rep. Brandon Gill declined to comment on it.
Republicans hope the redrawing could eke out as many as five new GOP seats, but it also risks potentially helping Democrats in some areas.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Capitol Tea: Thune's Missouri River tunes, from David Sivak at the Washington Examiner
Lawmakers want US tech CEOs to address concerns about submarine cables, from David Shepardson at Reuters
CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE
Pierre Whatley, a former Democratic Hill aide who's now a principal at the lobbying firm FS Vector, is planning to enter the crowded Democratic primary to unseat Georgia Rep. David Scott, POLITICO Influence reports. Whatley filed paperwork over the weekend to run for the seat and will officially launch his campaign today.
JOB BOARD
Emma Simon is now digital director for House Agriculture Committee Democrats. She most recently was a content producer for former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and is a Jamaal Bowman and More Perfect Union alum.
Kallisti Mandanis is now press secretary for Rep. Ron Estes. She most recently was staff assistant/press assistant for Estes.
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have made some staff moves, POLITICO's NatSec Daily reports. Amy English has been promoted to deputy staff director. She was previously Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's foreign policy adviser and worked at the British Embassy. Megan Bartley took over as chief counsel earlier this year.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Reps. John Larson, Robert Aderholt (6-0) and Seth Magaziner … former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison … Andrew Feinberg … The Boston Globe's Sam Brodey … Erin Maguire … Caleb Smith … Port Side Strategies' Will Fischer … Annie Lowrey … CNN's Terence Burlij … National Association of Counties' Seamus Dowdall … John Shelton of Advancing American Freedom … Whitney VanMeter … former Reps. George Santos, Mike Ferguson and Curt Weldon … Soren Dayton … Arshi Siddiqui of Bellwether Government Affairs … Nathan Naylor … Joy Lee … Ben Leubsdorf
TRIVIA
MONDAY'S ANSWER: Andrew Stahovec correctly answered that Rep. Heath Shuler was a first-round draft pick of Washington's football team back when they were the Redskins.
TODAY'S QUESTION, from Andrew: Who is the only U.S. president who was born on the Fourth of July?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to [e-mail].