⚡️ The Conference Takeaways

IN THIS EDITION

Key admin and Hill leaders on Trump’s Washington, congressional agenda and more

View from the Hill: Lankford, Blunt Rochester and Banks

Cramer on small business, plus a view from the C-suite

Díaz-Balart, Wasserman Schultz on the power of the purse, plus a view from K Street

Views on Trump’s Washington

THE TOP

Key admin and Hill leaders on Trump’s Washington, congressional agenda and more

Punchbowl News hosted The Conference on Tuesday, our all-day event that featured insightful conversations with influential officials from the administration, Congress, K Street and the business world.

Here is a roundup of key takeaways from the conversations:

Two senior White House officials, James Blair, deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs, and legislative affairs chief James Braid, provided insight into how the Trump White House is approaching its GOP majority and policy priorities.

Blair said the White House expects total unity from Republicans given President Donald Trump’s influence.

“We have the trifecta in Washington, it doesn’t come along very often,” Blair said. “The president got a lot of these members elected, particularly in the House.”

Funding: Braid called the GOP continuing resolution a “fair and clean product” that allows Republicans to quickly move past government funding and focus on Trump’s legislative agenda.

Braid also noted another future consideration for the GOP is a potential aid package to address the California wildfires. Braid said the issue “is not fully mature” and said the White House will have to “work through” California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $40 billion request.

Reconciliation and taxes: Despite disagreements between the Senate and House, Braid said the White House is “all in on delivering that one big, beautiful product.” He was referring to the House’s preferred method of passing Trump’s agenda.

Asked if “no taxes on tips” is Trump’s top priority in the tax cuts package, Blair acknowledged that was the provision Trump has been “publicly campaigning on the longest.” Still, he said Trump’s “top three” include eliminating taxes on Social Security and overtime pay as well.

“We’re in a fairly advantageous position [for 2026], but we have to give voters something to vote for,” Blair said.

Republican leaders have been noncommittal on these, but Blair said “we’ll push as hard as we can.”

On the debt limit, Braid suggested the White House was open to addressing it outside of budget reconciliation, but he noted that the House was able to approve a $4 trillion debt-limit hike as part of its budget resolution.

We also held two separate conversations with the two House leaders, Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Johnson on DOGE: The GOP leader said he tries to “coordinate as closely as possible” with Elon Musk, on how DOGE can work with Congress to make the government more efficient.

“What Elon is doing is heroic,” Johnson said. “People expect us to spend their taxpayer dollars better, and that’s what Elon is trying to bring about.”

Johnson on reconciliation: Johnson argued the House should take the lead in the reconciliation process because he must get more lawmakers on board with the plan than the Senate.

“I have a much more diverse caucus,” Johnson said. “My equation that I have to solve is much more delicate and I think they recognize that … by necessity the House has to lead this effort.”

Johnson on 2026 prospects: Johnson said he expects to expand House Republicans’ margins in 2026 based on shifting demographics and congressional maps.

“We had a historic demographic shift in this election cycle,” Johnson said. He also noted that there are more vulnerable Democrats this cycle than House Republicans.

“There are 13 House Democrats sitting in districts that President Trump won,” Johnson said. “There’s only three House Republicans sitting in districts that Harris won.”

Jeffries on Musk: The Democratic leader sought to link Musk to the GOP’s aspirations of making cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“This DOGE thing is about taking a chainsaw to all of the things that matter, as was reaffirmed yesterday by the leader of this so-called effort who said, ‘You know what? We’re going after Social Security and Medicare,’” Jeffries said.

Jeffries on taxes: Jeffries also took a jab at Trump’s recent swings on tariffs. He said businesses that allied themselves with the administration in hopes of tax cuts and deregulation were instead getting farther from the policy certainty they hoped for.

“This is a business-friendly administration?” Jeffries said. “It doesn’t seem that way to me.”

Jeffries said if Democrats were writing a tax bill instead of Republicans, they’d focus on an expanded child tax credit, a strengthened low-income housing credit, the state and local tax deduction and policies to address the lack of supply of houses.

Overall, Jeffries said he had “no doubt” his party would retake the House in 2026, a prospect he said Trump is making more likely by turning away from economic issues.

“They’ve accelerated the pace of our capacity to do it because they’ve been so extreme in how they’ve conducted themselves, in unleashing chaos on the American people,” Jeffries said.

Thank you to RTX for partnering with us to make The Conference and The Top conversations possible.

– Andrew Desiderio, Mica Soellner and Ben Brody

VIEW FROM THE HILL

View from the Hill: Lankford, Blunt Rochester and Banks

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, said Republicans need to enact their reconciliation bill before the August recess for the tax portion to be properly implemented.

“I think it’s better to be able to do it by the time you get to August recess, so you’ve got time to roll out regs,” Lankford said.

Tax policy will be the main challenge in the reconciliation package, Lankford said, adding that most House Republicans have never voted for such a big tax bill before.

Priorities: Lankford’s priorities for reconciliation include bringing back full bonus depreciation, which allows businesses to immediately deduct costs for short-term assets like equipment and machinery, and expanding the deduction for charitable giving so anyone could take advantage of the incentive.

Lankford also provided some insight into how lawmakers are working to include President Donald Trump’s long list of tax priorities, such as getting rid of taxes on tips. For no taxes on tips, it depends on how many people will be able to benefit from the policy and how lawmakers define what a “tip” is, Lankford said.

Medicaid: Lankford argued that Republicans aren’t discussing cuts to Medicaid benefits. Instead, he said they’re looking at how to get rid of Medicaid fraud and improper payments.

Fireside chat: Chuck Robbins, chair and CEO of Cisco and the chair of the Business Roundtable continued the conversation on tax policy. He said the group planned to talk about tax, trade and immigration with Trump during a planned Tuesday meeting.

BRT is focused on a bigger tax break for R&D spending and maintaining a competitive international tax system in the United States, among other issues, Robbins said.

“We’re always optimistic,” Robbins said, referring to lawmakers’ tax negotiations. “I’m encouraged. I think it’s much more complicated this year.”

Bipartisanship: We also held a separate conversation on bipartisanship with Sens. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.).

Both former House members acknowledged the Senate rules fostered bipartisanship, unlike in the House.

Banks said his priority is to bring back defense manufacturing to the United States, an area he added should unite Democrats and Republicans.

“We’re living in a moment with incredible potential and opportunity for innovation in that space,” Banks said.

Blunt Rochester said her bipartisan area of focus was on strengthening supply chains.

“It is our health, our wealth, our national security and bringing down the cost of goods,” Blunt Rochester said.

Sternfels on public sector partnerships: Bob Sternfels, global managing partner at McKinsey & Company, joined in for a fireside chat and shared why it’s worth it for the private sector to work with the public sector.

“And we do it because, you know, quite honestly, we wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for this system of government,” Sternfels said. “And we have a belief that making this system of government better on both efficiency and effectiveness is key for economic growth and for national defense.”

– Samantha Handler and Max Cohen

RURAL SMALL BIZ

Cramer on small business, plus a view from the C-suite

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) discussed the landscape for rural small business, Trump’s DOGE and efforts to avert a government shutdown.

Government funding: Cramer said he was a “grudging yes” on the CR that the House passed Tuesday night and now moves to the Senate.

“As imperfect as this is — and it is imperfect in lots of ways, both for conservatives and liberals — it’s better than a shutdown,” Cramer said. “Let’s put 2025 in the rearview mirror, at least from a funding standpoint.”

DOGE: Cramer said Elon Musk’s cuts “had to happen” to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse,” although he added that he anticipates some moderation now as Cabinet members start to intervene.

Small business: Cramer also discussed ways Washington can support small businesses, including boosting access to financial resources.

“The formation of capital for a startup is probably the hardest thing in the world for small businesses,” Cramer said.

Cramer added that it was important to invest in small businesses as they help diversify the economy, and doing so attracts other investments and inspires new entrepreneurs.

Watch Cramer’s conversation here.

Fireside chat: David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Jenny Steffensmeier, owner of Steffensmeier Welding and Manufacturing, continued the conversation on small business.

Steffensmeier said small businesses play a significant role in local economies but face many challenges.

“Challenges are access to affordable capital — that’s a big one for me — and skilled workforce,” she said.

Solomon suggested three ways in which policymakers can help rural businesses thrive.

“Deregulation, particularly as it affects small businesses in their ability to invest and grow; help and access to benefits that level the playing field; simplification around SBA and other things that can improve access to capital through lending programs,” Solomon said.

From the C-Suite: We also heard from Adena Friedman, chair and CEO of Nasdaq, Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, and Lisa Su, chair and CEO of AMD with perspectives from the C-Suite:

Friedman called for an agenda that provides the opportunity for more capital to come into the markets “through a smarter regulatory framework.”

Kirby dinged the Credit Card Competition Act as “bad” policy that would hurt credit card reward programs.

“And that bill, while I’m sure is well-intentioned, would kill those programs,” Kirby said.

Su said businesses have to be “very agile” in how they’re thinking about the current administration’s business environment to react to changing dynamics. Su said she wants a “seat at the table” for semiconductor manufacturers.

– Lillian Juarez and Brendan Pedersen

THE POWER OF THE PURSE

Díaz-Balart, Wasserman Schultz on the power of the purse, plus a view from K Street

Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) discussed Congress’ power to control the purse strings and both acknowledged using continuing resolutions undermined that power.

Díaz-Balart called for a return to passing full appropriations bills rather than relying on CRs to fund the government.

“We are now facing either a shutdown or a CR and we’ll see who votes the way they do, but those are, unfortunately, the two choices,” Díaz-Balart said. “We have to get back to regular order.”

Still, the Florida lawmakers disagreed on who would be to blame if a government shutdown happened.

“The Republicans control everything. If the government shuts down, it’s clearly on them,” Wasserman Schultz said.

You can watch that full session here.

View from K Street: Jeff Miller and Brian Ballard weighed what it’s like for the lobbying world in the Trump administration compared to former President Joe Biden’s. Both said President Donald Trump’s White House is a lot more welcoming to the lobbying world than Biden’s.

“I think it’s much more open for honest debate, much more free thinking, problem solving… I think President Trump is getting his hands dirty on day-to-day policy,” Ballard said.

Miller chimed in too and said everything Trump is doing is of significant benefit to his clients, whose CEOs were never invited to the Biden White House.

Watch that session here.

– Joy Mazur and Jalen Beckford

THE CANVASS

Views on Trump’s Washington

Phillip Morris, partner at LSG provided an overview of the findings from our special Conference edition of our survey, The Canvass.

Morris said that based on the polling, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are more popular than you think. While Trump’s policy priorities are popular, there are some concerns about their implementation. It will also be challenging to govern with a MAGA coalition. Look out for the full results early next month.

Future of college sports: NCAA President Charlie Baker shared his top priorities for Congress, including resolving the “employment issue” around the status of student athletes, which he says is the “single biggest threat” to Olympic sports programs.

Baker also said he’d like a national name, image and likeness standard to ease the current patchwork of state laws, as well as “limited liability” for the NCAA to issue rules so that they’re not constantly in court.

– Elvina Nawaguna and Diego Areas Munhoz