Tariffs, spending and trade: The House's week

IN THIS EDITION

Will the minibus get loaded up for the House?

Tillis eyes new blockade over Greenland, tariffs

House Dems prep war powers push

Tech: Lawmakers ‘have to deal’ with app store issues

THE TOP

Will the minibus get loaded up for the House?

Happy Tuesday morning.

Speaker Mike Johnson is addressing the British parliament in London. The Senate is out, so all of the action is in the House. Members return this evening.

The House will be very busy, possibly even chaotic, over the next few days. The week will be dominated by three somewhat interlocking dynamics: consideration of the final FY2026 minibus funding package, which includes the Defense, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS and Transportation-HUD bills; tariffs; and member absences. The latter can impact everything.

The House will also consider a Congressional Review Act resolution from Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) that disapproves of the withdrawal of federal lands in Cook, Lake, and St. Louis Counties, Minn., from potential mining or mineral leases.

Government funding. Somewhat amazingly, the House is on the brink of passing the entire slate of FY2026 funding bills 10 days ahead of the Jan. 30 deadline. Party leaders aren’t there yet, but they’re nearing that point.

As we scooped Monday evening, the House GOP leadership is now looking to load up this package with other measures: renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act and a trade preference bill for Haiti. Both of these measures have bipartisan support.

There’s also discussion about adding some health-care provisions, including measures dealing with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). It’s not yet clear how Republican leaders will handle this.

But we will say that nothing is easy about adding unrelated measures to a funding bill, especially with this razor-thin GOP majority. Johnson has been hesitant to load up funding bills in the past because of this.

Even without the extraneous measures, passing these funding bills is no easy lift. As of very early this morning, appropriators still hadn’t released the final minibus. The text for this package was supposed to be out over the weekend, but there are always last-minute delays as staffers go through them line-by-line.

The massive package will contain plenty of partisan flashpoints that raise concerns for groups of members in both parties. In fact, it may be particularly challenging for House Republicans to pass the rule for the funding package, which we’ll get into below.

DHS funding will be a tough vote for Democrats. Democrats were turning against a full-year spending bill for the department after ICE’s shootings in Minneapolis, and pressure from outsider groups has only grown. Plus, Republicans pushed through tens of billions of dollars in funding for DHS in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which makes this vote even more problematic.

Republicans are counting on Democrats to get this final minibus package over the finish line and avoid coming up against the Jan. 30 funding deadline. But skepticism over DHS combined with the last-minute add-ons complicate everything.

Tariffs. President Donald Trump’s trade wars are on the verge of causing an even bigger mess on Capitol Hill, where Republicans remain deeply divided over tariffs.

All at once, three big factors are forcing Congress to confront the tariff fight.

1) Trump announced he’ll impose hefty new tariffs on European countries as part of his push for U.S. control of Greenland. This has triggered bipartisan alarm.

2) All of Washington is waiting on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump’s tariff regime, which will undoubtedly have ripple effects on the Hill.

3) House GOP leaders may not be able to extend their blockade on votes challenging Trump’s tariffs. That could prove to be a massive headache for House Republicans.

The House GOP leadership has tucked language into several rules to stop resolutions opposing tariffs from coming to the floor. But in the fall, a small band of Republicans threatened to sink a rule over the prohibition and won concessions. That ban expires at the end of January.

If House GOP leaders don’t extend this provision, a raft of Democratic-led resolutions could come to the floor challenging Trump’s tariffs. Those would be incredibly painful votes for the House GOP. Just look at how it’s going in the Senate.

Yet it’s not clear House GOP leaders can get the votes for any proposed rule including the tariff language. Some Republican moderates are fed up with Trump’s tariffs and the GOP leadership’s maneuvering to restrict votes. Trump’s Greenland threats haven’t helped.

“I would disagree with putting it in there,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told us. “Would I vote no? Probable.”

Attendance. Attendance has been a major issue for House Republicans as they struggle with their narrow, two-seat majority. Last week, a number of Republican lawmakers missed votes for a variety of reasons. The GOP leadership does expect Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) to return.

Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) has regularly skipped floor votes as he campaigns for the GOP Senate nomination in Texas. Hunt has in-person events scheduled for this evening in Lubbock and Lake Travis, but nothing else until Friday. So hope springs eternal for the GOP leadership with the second-term lawmaker from Houston.

It’s not clear whether Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) will return to D.C. this week due to personal issues.

– Jake Sherman, Laura Weiss, Samantha Handler and John Bresnahan

New! Join Punchbowl News for a summit on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 8 a.m. ET focused on understanding the factors shaping youth mental health. The event will kick off with a bipartisan conversation with Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.). Afterward, former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), board member for Coalition to Empower Our Future, will join for a fireside chat, followed by an expert panel discussion. RSVP now!

THE SENATE

Tillis eyes new blockade over Greenland, tariffs

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — In his 348 days left in office — yes, he’s counting — Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) could end up becoming the biggest headache for Senate GOP leaders and the White House.

The North Carolina Republican is the deciding vote on all four of his committees, having exercised that leverage a few times already since announcing last year that he won’t seek reelection, including most recently with Federal Reserve nominees.

During an hour-long interview over Danish smørrebrød, Tillis said President Donald Trump’s push to grab control of Greenland — and use tariffs to punish allies who oppose the effort — is likely to be his next target.

“It’s about to come out on a grand scale,” said Tillis, who’s in Davos this week. “The straws are dropping on the proverbial camel’s back.”

While Tillis hasn’t yet decided what he’ll target or how, he’s teasing a much more expansive effort. In addition to blocking certain nominees in committee, Tillis noted he could also derail packages of nominees on the floor by demanding individual roll-call votes.

Tillis said he could also withhold his votes on the floor and, if a few others join him, grind the chamber to a halt.

We sat down with Tillis shortly after he and other lawmakers participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at a memorial for Danish troops, who died in battle, including on the United States’ behalf in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tillis got especially emotional and told us that Trump’s threats amount to the “betrayal of a friend.”

For these lawmakers, the trip was a reminder of how Congress has ceded so much of its authority to the executive branch that it’s become difficult to actually reassure U.S. allies of lawmakers’ ability to rein in the president.

“Even though you’ve given certain authorities away, that doesn’t mean that with the right cooperation, the Article I branch still can’t be as assertive,” said Tillis. “It just requires people to come out of the shadows.”

‘Balls and strikes.’ The liberated Tillis is already blocking Department of Homeland Security nominees over Secretary Kristi Noem’s months-long refusal to testify before the Judiciary Committee. Tillis has also vowed to block Fed nominees in the Banking Committee amid DOJ’s targeting of Fed Chair Jay Powell.

Last year, Tillis’ similar tactics helped secure federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Tillis called this “a really good test case” for the Greenland issue.

And despite the heartburn his most recent — and future — blockades are causing for Senate GOP leaders, Tillis is convinced he’ll actually be helping rank-and-file Republicans get through a midterm year he sees as trending negatively for his party.

Of course, this is much easier for Tillis to argue now that he’s not running again, a dynamic he says allows him to “call balls and strikes” during his final months in office.

Tillis didn’t threaten nominations on this scale before announcing he wasn’t running, and he’s backed Trump on most major policies, including war powers. One notable exception is the One Big Beautiful Bill, which Tillis shredded over its hundred of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts.

“I’m not cranky,” Tillis quipped of this new era for him. “I’m just focused.”

Tillis predicted more Republicans will speak up against Trump as a survival technique in the general election once their primaries are over or filing deadlines have passed.

Flashing some independence from Trump is especially important, Tillis argued, given Trump’s penchant for “enabling” Democrats — noting the president’s role in the GOP’s Georgia debacle in 2020-2021, as well as his recent attack on blue-state Republicans like Sen. Susan Collins (Maine).

“The quality of the returning class could dramatically decline if we don’t assert ourselves, look like we’re leading, and be good stewards of an independent branch,” Tillis warned.

— Andrew Desiderio

House Dems prep war powers push

It’s not just Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) — House Democrats say they intend to keep pushing floor votes to rein in President Donald Trump’s war powers.

A bipartisan House resolution on Venezuela is slated to ripen in the coming days. House supporters now have another opportunity to force consideration of a measure to limit military action in the country following the stunning capture of now former President Nicolás Maduro.

It’s unclear whether the provision’s champions — Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) — want to see the resolution taken up on the floor immediately after it ripens.

But future House action is unlikely to be limited to just Venezuela. House Democrats, like Kaine in the Senate, said they would employ similar tactics if Trump takes military action against Iran.

“Congress is the one that has to authorize — no question,” House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told us.

“There is an opportunity to be on solid ground to get support from this Congress,” added Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.). “There really is, and the decision not to do it is just another decision to divide us.”

The resolutions are an especially powerful tool for the minority party because they are privileged, meaning lawmakers can go around Republican leadership to force floor consideration.

A narrow defeat. The Senate last week voted to block a bipartisan Venezuela war powers resolution. But Kaine said on “Fly Out Day” that he and other supporters would continue offering war powers resolutions on countries as varied as Iran, Nigeria, Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Greenland.

A separate bipartisan House push to remove troops from hostilities in or against Venezuela fell short on a 211-213 vote in December. At the time, three Republicans voted to support it: Massie, Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.) and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.). Of course, that was before Maduro’s capture.

But Republican attendance has been an ongoing problem for leadership and could be pivotal here. Just a handful of absences and a few GOP defections could be enough to tip the war powers vote toward Democrats.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas) was the only Democrat to oppose the prior Venezuela resolution. His office didn’t return a request for comment on this new effort.

Back in the Senate, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) also has a war powers resolution ready for floor consideration that aims to remove U.S. forces from ongoing operations targeting suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean.

But it’s unclear if Gallego would seek to force a vote on it anytime soon. Gallego also said he plans to tee up a separate resolution centered on Greenland.

This is new. A group of 76 Democrats, led by Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), are urging the Trump administration to push back aggressively against Israeli efforts to annex the West Bank. Read their letter here.

— Anthony Adragna and Briana Reilly

… AND THERE’S MORE

Leadership cash. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer raised nearly $30 million in 2025 and $6 million in the last quarter of 2025.

Emmer transferred more than $8.5 million to the NRCC and other Republican entities last year.

The big race in Iowa. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) raised $1.3 million in the fourth quarter and has more than $3.5 million on hand. Miller-Meeks outraised her likely opponent, Christina Bohannan, who brought in $1.1 million.

Minnesota watch. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) is reintroducing her bill to increase the penalty for fraud in federal programs. The legislation has taken on renewed salience in the aftermath of Minnesota’s welfare fraud scandal.

Candidate launch: Nancy Lacore, a Navy veteran who was a three star admiral, is running as a Democrat in South Carolina’s 1st District. This is the open seat created by Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) run for governor. Here’s Lacore’s consultant team.

— Jake Sherman and Max Cohen

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