Johnson tries to contain Epstein dissent

Politico

4 days ago

IN TODAY'S EDITION:— Republicans are getting impatient over Epstein— GOP leaders eye clawing back education funding— Dems slam today's GOP meeting with Dr. Oz
Speaker Mike Johnson is managing a delicate balance between appeasing antsy Republicans over the Jeffrey Epstein files and buying President Donald Trump time by shutting down the House early for August recess.
The Louisiana Republican tried to quell dissent in a closed-door House GOP meeting Tuesday. He told members to stay united, arguing it would take time for the administration to release files that would also protect the names of Epstein's victims, Meredith Lee Hill and Hailey Fuchs report.
But Republicans are getting impatient. In an Oversight subcommittee hearing Tuesday, lawmakers voted to compel the full committee to subpoena Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Oversight Chair James Comer later told reporters he had warned GOP leadership last week that if the Epstein files came up in his committee, most of his members would vote on the side of transparency.
'Everyone knew that,' Comer said, adding that his team will visit Maxwell in prison for the interview once they negotiate details with her attorneys.
The saga has given Democrats just the platform they needed to land a successful blow on the White House. In her latest column, Rachael Bade outlines just how much the party has found their mojo in effectively hijacking the House and sticking it to Trump.
Democratic efforts to further drive the MAGA wedge has legs beyond this week. The bipartisan bill led by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna, which would compel the release of more files, could hit the floor as soon as lawmakers return in September.
That means Republican leaders are bracing for Democrats to keep the Epstein issue hot during August recess. And some of their own members who are itching for an outlet acknowledge that five weeks off may not stop Johnson's headache.
'The Epstein issue has contributed to their desire to just get us out of town because they hope that the energy will dissipate,' Massie told reporters Tuesday. 'I doubt that's the case.'
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING. Don't forget to wear your sneakers to the Hill today — the Sneaker Caucus is hosting its third annual Sneaker Day (with awards given to the five best sneakers at 1:45 p.m. in Longworth 1539). Air Jordan designer Wilson Smith Ill will speak on a panel at 1 p.m.
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 China Financial Threat Mitigation Act of 2025, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 and the Enhancing Multi-Class Share Disclosures Act under suspension of the rules at 3:30 p.m.
The Senate will confirm Arielle Roth as assistant Commerce secretary for communications and information and John Hurley as undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial crimes at 11 a.m.
The Senate will vote on a motion to proceed to the fiscal 2026 MilCon-VA appropriations bill, as well as a cloture vote on Zachary Bluestone's nomination for U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri at 2 p.m. A confirmation vote on Bluestone is expected at 5 p.m., along with a cloture vote on Aaron Szabo's nomination be an assistant EPA administrator.
— House Appropriations will mark up the fiscal 2026 National Security, State Department and Related Programs bill at 10 a.m.
— House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar will hold a news conference at 10:15 a.m.
— Ways and Means will meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at 2 p.m.
The rest of the week: The House will leave for August recess. The Senate will continue to work through appropriations bills and Trump's nominations.
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THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Dems debate shutdown strategy
Democratic leaders emerged from a closed-door meeting on Tuesday without any specific ultimatums for Republicans, after discussing their government shutdown strategy ahead of the government funding deadline in 10 weeks.
'House and Senate Democrats are in complete and total alignment,' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters after the meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The two leaders privately huddled before bringing in a larger group of Democratic leaders.
Leaders reiterated they are approaching negotiations in good faith and encouraged Republicans to do the same. Democrats 'want to pursue a bipartisan, bicameral appropriations process,' Schumer said, but 'the Republicans are making it extremely difficult to do that.'
Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the House's top Democratic appropriator, said this is the worst appropriations process she has seen in her 34 years in Congress.
'It has not been what we have experienced,' DeLauro said. 'There's always been that give and take to pass the bills.'
Privately, Democratic leaders have discussed the need to focus on how government funding affects 'people,' rather than how Republicans are undermining the government funding 'process,' two people granted anonymity to discuss the private talks said.
Some Democrats are already making their opposition to the appropriations bills clear. Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff of California, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Peter Welch of Vermont voted against the first procedural step of the Mil Con-VA appropriations bill. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders also opposed moving forward with the package.
GOP leaders eye second rescissions package
Republican leaders are in talks with the White House about a second rescissions package, after pushing through the first rescissions package last week, Calen reports with Juan Perez Jr. and Eli Stokols. The package would include Education Department funding, which was first reported by The Daily Signal.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise did not disclose the specifics of upcoming rescissions but told Calen talks were well underway.
'We haven't made a final decision on what will be in the second rescissions package, but we're of course talking about it,' Scalise said. 'The administration is very interested in it.'
Scalise also said the Trump administration is 'having talks with appropriators' and will ultimately decide when to send it over and what's in it. It's not clear how much the package would cut, but Johnson told Republicans in recent days this group of federal funding cuts won't be as big as the first, according to two people granted anonymity to share details of private discussions.
POLICY RUNDOWN
CRAPO EYES FUTURE TAX, HEALTH BILLS — Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo told reporters Tuesday he's looking at policies across his panel's jurisdiction to move in year-end legislative pursuits.
'We're going to be looking in the healthcare arena. We're going to be looking in the tax arena still,' said Crapo, noting bipartisan efforts last year to enact a legislative overhaul to pharmaceutical benefit managers, which act as intermediaries between drug manufacturers, health insurance plans and pharmacies.
Crapo said he 'would not oppose' reversing a new limitation on gambling tax deductions implemented by the GOP's domestic policy bill, which caused a big stir in the betting industry. He also reiterated his support for addressing upcoding, a form of Medicare fraud where providers submit a claim for a costlier service than the one that was provided.
The conversations around a bipartisan health deal are in a very early stage, with Johnson telling reporters Tuesday that an extension of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits — the main ask by Democrats in exchange for coming to the negotiating table — hasn't come up yet. Extending those credits would get an immense amount of pushback from deficit hawks in the House, however. House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris noted to reporters Monday that extending the premium tax credits would cost $300 billion and be 'a non-starter.'
DEMS SLAM GOP MEETING WITH DR. OZ — Democrats on the House Ways and Means committee plan to call out Republicans for holding an off-the record roundtable with CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz this morning, said Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a committee Democrat.
'They could have done this as a hearing with the full bells and whistles… allow reporters to come in, but they're choosing not to,' Gomez said in an interview. 'I think they know we'd kick the crap out of them… [Oz] might play a doctor on TV, but he's not an administrator. He doesn't know the job.'
Republicans, meanwhile, say they have plenty of items on their agenda for the bipartisan briefing. Rep. Aaron Bean, for instance, intends to press Oz on the importance of legislation he co-sponsored with committee member Rep. Kevin Hern, which would require CMS to provide more accurate data to consumers on different kinds of Medicare plans.
HOUSE GOP KEEN TO SCRAP CAP GAINS ON HOUSE SALES — House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith appeared receptive Tuesday to Trump's idea to eliminate capital gains on sales of homes. When asked about whether he would seek to codify the proposal in legislation, Smith told reporters on Wednesday, 'I'm always looking for tax cuts on Americans.'
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has a new bill that would do just that. Committee Rep. Ron Estes, however, said in an interview Tuesday he's not sure the legislation would increase housing supply, while another member of the panel, Rep. Lloyd Smucker, said he'd have to look at the proposal's total cost.
Financial Services member Andy Barr lauded the idea in an interview Tuesday and said Republicans should eliminate capital gains taxes on investment properties, too: ''Yes' on the president's idea, great idea. And build on that.'
SENATE GOP UNVEILS NEW CRYPTO BILL — Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott and Sens. Cynthia Lummis, Bill Hagerty and Bernie Moreno released draft legislation Tuesday for a digital asset market structure overhaul,Jasper Goodman reports. It's the Senate's version of the House's CLARITY ACT, which passed the House on July 17 with support from 78 Democrats and would divvy up regulation of digital assets under the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
CAMPAIGN STOP
HARDER GETS A REMATCH — Former Stockton, California Mayor Kevin Lincoln has launched another bid to unseat Democratic Rep. Josh Harder, Juliann Ventura reports. Lincoln, a Republican who unseated prominent Democrat Michael Tubbs in an upset in Stockton's 2021 mayoral race, lost to Harder in last year's House contest by fewer than 4 percentage points. Harder's Central Valley seat is a target for the NRCC.
JOB BOARD
Abigail Gost is now comms director for Rep. Rob Wittman. She most recently was deputy comms director for Rep. Brad Finstad.
Greer Foster is now director of scheduling for Rep. Michael Cloud. She most recently was acting deputy scheduler and assistant to the chief for Sen. James Lankford.
Iyanla Kollock has been promoted to legislative director for Rep. Shomari Figures.
Scott Prutting joins the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council as special assistant. Scott was previously a policy analyst for the Interior subcommittee on House Appropriations.
Tammy Pham has been promoted to legislative director for Rep. Sylvia Garcia.
TUNNEL TALK
MEMBER SECURITY UPDATE — House lawmakers are getting an increase in funds they can use for personal security, including at their homes, our Katherine Tully-McManus reports amid an increase in threats against lawmakers. The announcement came during the closed-door GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning, during which House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil announced an 'updated Member security framework.' A growing number of lawmakers have asked for more protection when outside the Capitol grounds.
GOODBYE LONGWORTH DUNKIN' — House eateries originally scheduled to close at the end of the week will close starting today as lawmakers leave early for recess. Get your last Capitol medium iced from Dunks.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Young Progressives Are Figuring Out How to Use Zohran Mamdani's Playbook, from Oriana González and Shifra Dayak at NOTUS
John Thune Tells Ruthless Podcast He's Ready To Help Fix Transfer Portal, NIL Problems In College Sports, from Trey Wallace at OutKick
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Sen. Raphael Warnock … former Rep. John Hall … POLITICO's Lisa Kashinsky and Jake Traylor … Stephanie Grisham … Dean Aguillen of OGR … David Brock … Mary Crane of Targeted Victory … Reuters' Erin Banco … Judy Lichtman … Edelman's Courtney Gray Haupt … Tracie Pough … Gabriel Barnett … Newsmax's Jon Glasgow … Monica Venzke of American Bridge 21st Century … State's Kenya James … Monica Lewinsky … former Justice Anthony Kennedy
TRIVIA
TUESDAY'S ANSWER: Jamie Gillespie correctly answered that the only U.S. president who was born on the Fourth of July was Calvin Coolidge.
TODAY'S QUESTION, from Ben Jacobs: Republicans passed a proposal in committee to name the opera house at the Kennedy Center after Melania Trump. Which president's daughter pursued a career as an opera singer?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to [e-mail].