A tough week for Susan Collins
It's grind time for Republicans. They have until Friday to deliver on President Donald Trump's rescissions request as they also try to salvage government funding talks that are spiraling out of control.
With several senators insisting on changes to Trump's proposal to claw back $9.4 billion for foreign aid and public media, White House budget director Russ Vought will head to the Hill tomorrow to talk with senators about the plan, our Jordain Carney reports. Tuesday is also when the Senate is expected to take its first procedural vote on the rescissions bill.
One of the week's main characters is shaping up to be Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins. She's among the senators resisting Trump's rescissions request in its current form. She's also trying to get the Senate's bipartisan funding negotiations back on track, after a fiscal 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science amendment from Sen. Chris Van Hollen targeting the relocation of FBI headquarters triggered a rift among Sen. Lisa Murkowski and other committee Republicans.
In the House, Republicans are less concerned with salvaging bipartisanship as they gear up to pass fiscal 2026 Defense Department appropriations this week. Though Pentagon funding has long enjoyed backing from both parties, Connor O'Brien reports that Speaker Mike Johnson can't bank on much Democratic support for the bill and will need to keep the GOP conference united to pass it.
The $831.5 billion bill cleared House Appropriations last month almost entirely along party lines, as Democrats decried conservative policy provisions that would block funding for troops to travel to seek abortions — a rolled-back Biden-era policy — and Pentagon diversity efforts. Democrats will push for votes to remove those and other GOP policy riders they consider non-starters, as well as to undo the Trump administration's policy barring transgender people from serving in the military.
Many Republican hawks had hoped for a larger price tag for the defense bill, which would keep annual Pentagon funding static. But expect hard-liners, whose votes Johnson will need to keep the bill on track, to continue to try to put their stamp on the plan. Several Republicans including Reps. Paul Gosar, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Scott Perry have filed amendments to block funding, foreign military sales or munitions transfers to Ukraine.
GOOD MONDAY MORNING. Anyone else heading to the Congressional Women's Softball Game at Audi Field this Wednesday?
Reach your Inside Congress crew at crazor@politico.com, mmccarthy@politico.com and bguggenheim@politico.com. Follow our live coverage at politico.com/congress.
WHAT WE'RE WATCHINGWith help from Alec Snyder
The House will vote on legislation including a wetlands conservation bill and a sinkhole mapping bill at 6:30 p.m.
The Senate will vote to confirm Whitney Hermandorfer to be a U.S. circuit judge for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and to advance the nomination of Luke Pettit to be an assistant secretary of the Treasury at 5:30 p.m.
— Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers will hold private meetings shortly before evening votes.
— House Rules will consider the fiscal 2026 Defense appropriations bill and cryptocurrency legislation at 4 p.m.
— House Appropriations will have subcommittee markups of the Transportation-HUD bill at 5 p.m. and the Energy-Water bill at 6 p.m.
The rest of the week: The House will take up crypto legislation and move through appropriations bills. The Senate will work through Trump's rescissions package and more of his nominees, including Joseph Edlow to be the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at DHS.
Pro subscribers receive this newsletter with a full congressional schedule and can browse our comprehensive calendar of markups, hearings and other notable events around Washington. Sign up for a demo.
THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Trump poised for big crypto win, but new House drama looms
House Republicans are set to make history this week when they send a landmark crypto policy revamp to Trump for his signature. But they're facing major snags in their quest to go further with a second big bill, our Jasper Goodman writes in.
As soon as Tuesday, the House is expected to pass a bill with bipartisan support that would create new federal rules for so-called stablecoins – in effect treating them as a legitimate piece of the broader financial system. The bill, which originated in the Senate but follows years of work launched by the House, marks the first time that Congress has pulled off a major rewrite of regulations to enshrine crypto.
As part of a 'crypto week' on the floor, the House will also vote on a broader bill to overhaul crypto rules – a market structure proposal targeting regulations for securities and commodities. It still has a long way to go before becoming law, and House Republicans are scrambling to lock down Democrats. A bipartisan show of force is key for House Financial Services Chair French Hill – a leading figure on crypto policy the last few years – to show that the bill is viable in the Senate.
Seventy-one House Democrats voted for a similar crypto market structure proposal last year, but new concerns over the Trump family's business entanglements in crypto are making it a heavier lift this time around.
House eyes next week for Russian sanctions vote
The House is expected to vote on a bipartisan Russian sanctions bill next week. In the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune is eyeing next week or potentially the following week to take up the bill, even as it hits a snag with Democrats over Trump's insistence that it give him more flexibility.
Sens. Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, the bill's lead sponsors, will meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for dinner tonight with other senators as the two try to shore up support.
Trump has been hinting at a 'major statement' on Russia this week, as he ramps up critcism over its operations in Ukraine.
'A turning point regarding Russia['s] invasion of Ukraine is coming,' Graham said in a joint interview with Blumenthal on CBS' 'Face the Nation' Sunday.
Thune, Schumer and the 2026 map
Can Democrats get their dream recruits? Can a bloody Republican primary in Texas put the state on the map? Read Aaron Pellish, Jordain and Elena Schneider on the key questions that could decide who will win the Senate in 2026 – and what Senate leaders are doing about it now.
POLICY RUNDOWN
HOSPITALS PRESS GOP TO SOFTEN MEGABILL MEDICAID CUTS — State-based hospital associations are ramping up a lobbying campaign to block Medicaid cuts from the GOP megabill, our Robert King, David Lim and Amanda Chu report. They're warning that slashing $340 billion from hospital budgets over a decade to offset parts of Trump's domestic policy agenda could have painful political consequences.
'Are they really going to want to cut rural hospitals in an election?' asked Chris Mitchell, head of the Iowa Hospital Association.
In related megabill fallout, our Liz Crampton and Nick Reisman report that the 'big, beautiful' law's cuts to health care and food assistance for low-income Americans are threatening to impose major costs on states and create budget nightmares for governors who face elections next year. New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, for example, is contending with an $11 billion budget hole ahead of a potential faceoff against Trump ally Rep. Elise Stefanik.
On the energy side of the megabill saga, Zack Colman reports that Democrats are gearing up to make the case that clean energy cuts will drive up electricity prices.
'Democrats now have the high ground of price and Republicans are now the party of electricity shortages,' Sen. Brian Schatz said in an interview.
Republicans are also re-engaging with the energy cuts.
Sen. John Curtis worked to ensure Biden-era clean-energy tax credits weren't totally decimated in the megabill, including by softening some of the phase-out dates for certain programs. Now, he's trying to keep Trump from undoing that work.
Curtis told Benjamin he's in talks with the administration about the implications of a new executive order that could undo an agreement allowing companies to access credits if they spend 5 percent of the costs of eligible projects by mid-2026.
'The word we have from the White House is they'll follow the law,' Curtis said. But he added that it is 'yet to be determined' how the executive order is going to be interpreted.
TRUMP JUDGES BEGIN TO MOVE — It's shaping up to be a big week for Trump's second-term remake of the federal judiciary, our Hailey Fuchs writes in. The Senate is poised to confirm Whitney Hermandorfer tonight, making her the first new judge of Trump's second term. Hermandorfer, who is expected to receive party-line support, is the president's pick to serve on the 6th Circuit, the federal court that hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
On Thursday, Senate Judiciary is scheduled to vote on advancing the nominations of Emil Bove and Jeanine Pirro.
Democrats say Bove, the principal deputy attorney general nominated for the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, is unfit for the position, citing allegations from a whistleblower that he suggested defying court orders in order to carry out the administration's deportation agenda.
Pirro is a former Fox News host Trump selected to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. The previous nominee, Ed Martin, failed to gain enough support among Senate Republicans. Sen. Thom Tillis, who helped tank Martin's nomination, has said he'll support Pirro in committee and suggested he'll back Bove, too.
Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
CAMPAIGN STOP
FIRST IN INSIDE CONGRESS: NEW DEMS' MIDTERM PICKS — The New Democrat Coalition's political arm is endorsing its first slate of candidates for the 2026 midterms, our Nicholas Wu writes in. The centrist bloc is backing Christina Bohannan in Iowa's 1st District, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin's 3rd District and Janelle Stelson in Pennsylvania's 10th District. They're all candidates seeking rematches in purple districts, and they picked up the backing of the New Democrats last cycle, too. Stelson hasn't formally announced her bid yet but is widely expected to do so soon.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Bannon warns GOP could lose 40 House seats over Epstein files, from Ashleigh Fields at The Hill
The exclusive Capitol subway that keeps trapping US senators, from David Sivak, Samantha-Jo Roth and Ramsey Touchberry at Washington Examiner
CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE
William Shelby has joined AxAdvocacy as a government relations associate. He previously was an intern for former Rep. Mike Waltz and former Sen. Richard Shelby.
Brittney May is joining Ameren Corporation as a federal government relations representative. She most recently was senior legislative affairs manager at the National Hydropower Association and is a State Department and Ways & Means Committee alum.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Former Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Tom Latham … Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick … Washington Free Beacon's Eliana Johnson … National Retail Federation's Matthew Shay … Chicago Sun-Times' Tina Sfondeles … Ammon Simon … Mike Panetta of the Beekeeper Group … James Davis … Meta's Nkechi Nneji … Axios' Caitlin Owens … David Weissman … Tigercomm's Mike Casey … Corey Solow … Tony Hanagan … Dana Youngentob of Sen. Angus King's office
TRIVIA
FRIDAY'S ANSWER: Claude Marx correctly answered that the last time someone successfully succeeded a family member in an Arizona special election was Mo Udall succeeding his brother Stewart Udall in 1961.
TODAY'S QUESTION, from Claude: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is the son of which former U.S. senator? Who was his predecessor?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com.
CORRECTION: Friday's newsletter misspelled Potter Stewart's name in trivia. Our apologies.
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