The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

Trump’s pick for Pentagon’s No. 3 becomes GOP flashpoint

News: HMP slams House GOP on proposed Medicaid cuts

The Vault: Flood charts the GOP housing agenda

Will Trump cure cancer? Plus Wis. Scotus race heats up

THE TOP

Trump’s pick for Pentagon’s No. 3 becomes GOP flashpoint

Happy Tuesday morning.

The Senate comes in tonight to confirm Howard Lutnick as the new commerce secretary. Senators will also take a procedural vote that will allow Senate Majority Leader John Thune to file cloture on Kash Patel’s nomination as FBI director.

Then it will be decision time for Thune and Senate GOP leaders on whether to bring up Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) “skinny” budget resolution covering defense-border security-energy policy. We’re told this is likely to happen, but there may be no official word until after the GOP leadership huddles prior to this evening’s votes.

A Bridge too far? President Donald Trump’s nomination of Elbridge Colby to serve as the Pentagon’s policy chief is emerging as the next big fight in the Republican Party’s internal clash over U.S. foreign policy.

Those divisions were on full display this past week in Europe, where Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth trampled on decades of GOP orthodoxy on national security.

But the GOP hawks are looking to reassert themselves by using Colby’s nomination to strike back — ensuring the confirmation process will be yet another proxy battle over the party’s direction on foreign policy.

That’s what prompted an online barrage from MAGA personalities accusing GOP senators of seeking to derail Colby’s nomination to serve as under secretary of defense for policy, the No. 3 job in the Pentagon.

“The effort to undermine President Trump continues in the US Senate,” MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk wrote on X on Sunday, calling out Senate GOP Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) specifically.

“Colby is one of the most important pieces to stop the Bush/Cheney cabal at DOD,” Kirk added. “Why is Tom Cotton doing this?”

Vance joined the chorus, defending Colby and insisting that he should be confirmed “easily.”

Behind the scenes: The reality is a bit more nuanced than what Kirk described. Cotton isn’t the only one raising concerns.

Cotton and other GOP defense hawks on the Senate Armed Services Committee are making it known privately that they want to probe Colby’s record and past writings, which include a suggestion that a nuclear-armed Iran would be containable.

Cotton, obviously, disagrees. As do most Senate Republicans. They believe U.S. policy should be to prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon by whatever means necessary.

Using Colby’s nomination as the vehicle for a broader defense policy discussion is especially important for GOP hawks since Hegseth’s confirmation process focused far more on personal issues than policy.

A source familiar with the matter told us that Cotton is “working to get those concerns addressed with meetings and a hearing. He wants all defense noms to be on the same page as Trump.”

“[The] issue is a question of Iran policy for SASC members and the White House to resolve. Not a personal thing,” the source added.

Still, it was surprising to many GOP senators that Kirk and Vance aired this publicly, especially since there wasn’t any indication that Colby’s nomination could be in trouble. Colby has all the right allies, including Donald Trump Jr., who was instrumental in the confirmations of other controversial nominees.

And as Thune told us last week, Vance is playing a key role — and thus far a successful one — in getting skeptical GOP senators to a “yes” on some of the most problematic Trump nominees.

Who exactly is Bridge? “Bridge,” as he’s referred to, served in the Pentagon during Trump’s first administration and has long been seen as somewhat of a contrarian in GOP foreign policy circles.

While he’s not as much of an outlier as, say, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Colby was intensely critical of U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More recently, Vance and others in the “America First” camp have echoed Colby’s view that American support for Ukraine against Russia and heightened involvement in the Middle East detracts from efforts to deter China.

That’s likely to put Colby in the crosshairs of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in particular. McConnell has long criticized those who believe the United States should retreat from Europe or the Middle East in the name of countering China, arguing the three issues are closely interconnected. McConnell wields the defense appropriations gavel this Congress.

Yet Colby’s supporters see him as someone who can appeal to different factions within the GOP.

“He’s kind of the perfect bridge, for lack of a better word, between the two camps,” said a GOP senator who was granted anonymity to candidly assess the nominee.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) recently acknowledged that some Republicans have concerns about Colby. But sources cautioned that this shouldn’t be interpreted as a statement of opposition.

Recall, however, that Wicker criticized Hegseth’s remarks last week on Ukraine and NATO. Wicker said the speech could have been written by Tucker Carlson, whom he called a “fool.” Colby recently appeared on Carlson’s show.

Meanwhile, Colby’s nomination is being dogged by the very same paperwork delays that have delayed other high-profile nominees. Once his financial and ethics paperwork is complete, the Armed Services panel will schedule a confirmation hearing.

— Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan

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THE OPPOSITION

News: HMP slams House GOP on proposed Medicaid cuts

News: In a memo shared first with Punchbowl News, the top House Democratic super PAC is revealing its strategy to hammer vulnerable Republicans for proposing potentially massive Medicaid cuts.

House Majority PAC is drawing the early battle lines for the 2026 campaign around the popular health care program, which helps provide coverage for tens of millions of Americans, especially children. Democrats are likening the House GOP budget resolution — the Energy and Commerce Committee has been directed to find $880 billion in spending cuts, much of which could come from Medicaid — to unpopular Republican politicians from the 2010s.

“While Donald Trump and House Republicans promised to ‘love and cherish’ Medicaid, House Republicans have gone full Matt Bevin, and are planning to make deep cuts to fund $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for Elon Musk and other billionaires,” the HMP memo reads.

Bevin, the former Republican governor of Kentucky, lost reelection to Democrat Andy Beshear in 2019 on the heels of an attempt to overhaul statewide Medicaid benefits. Democrats believe there is a similar opportunity to win seats in deep-red territory by capitalizing on voter anger over GOP entitlement reforms, especially if those funds are used to offset tax cuts.

In the memo, HMP identifies how many constituents of 27 at-risk House Republicans rely on Medicaid. There’s a fascinating table that shows the percentage of child Medicaid enrollees in these districts too.

The Democratic super PAC also cites from nationwide polling that shows Medicaid cuts are deeply unpopular, even among President Donald Trump’s voters.

Other Democratic groups are already hitting Republicans on proposed Medicaid cuts. As we reported on Friday, left-wing group Protect Our Care is launching a nearly $1 million ad campaign hammering battleground seat Republicans on plans for Medicaid cuts.

— Max Cohen

The Vault: Flood charts the GOP housing agenda

America’s housing shortage isn’t new. But Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) wants to breathe fresh life into the issue among Republicans on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.

We sat down with Flood last week to talk about how that’s going to go.

By way of background: A dearth of housing stock is a local issue with deep roots in Nebraska. The state’s unemployment rate has been among the lowest in the country for a while, and the lack of housing has been a meaningful constraint on hiring and business growth.

Beyond that, Flood is bringing unusually strong bipartisan chops to the gavel. As a state senator, he led Nebraska’s unicameral legislature between 2007 and 2013. “I was a coalition speaker — Republicans and Democrats in chair positions,” Flood said.

Today, Flood says it’s time to work with Hill Democrats. Democrats have spent much of the last decade trying and failing to advance housing solutions at the national level, but House Republicans haven’t made it a consistent focus. (The Senate Banking Committee is a different matter.)

“The reality is, Democrats really care about housing,” Flood said. “We’ve met with our subcommittee, and our subcommittee cares about housing.”

The agenda: Flood sees three big “buckets” for his subcommittee Republicans to focus on: housing programs, insurance reform and releasing government-sponsored enterprises from conservatorship.

In housing, reauthorization is the name of the game for Flood. There are a lot of federal housing programs that haven’t been formally reauthorized in years, just extended. Flood says it’s time to look under the hood.

“My focus is going to be more on the non-Section 8 HUD programs that affect supply, maybe prioritizing those a little more,” Flood said, pointing to the Community Development Block Grant program at HUD. Tribal housing reforms could be another focus, Flood said.

Flood also said GOP lawmakers should weigh an “omni bill” with several disparate housing reforms rolled into one.

More Flood:

Flood says the committee won’t neglect the insurance side of the subcommittee either. That includes the National Flood Insurance Program. The Nebraska Republican said NFIP reform was a particular priority for GOP Reps. Will Timmons (S.C.), Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.) and Scott Fitzgerald (Wis.).

The Federal Insurance Office is another focus for the GOP — the focus of their ire, usually. But Flood said he wasn’t in favor of abolishing the office.

“I’ve got members who want to eliminate it,” Flood said. “I’m of the opinion that we need to have a seat at the table with what’s happening in Europe.”

Releasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back onto the private market may be the most ambitious item on the list. Like House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.), he wants the Trump administration to kickstart the process. “Let’s let the [Federal Housing Finance Authority] call its shot,” Flood said.

But Flood also said that the clock is ticking. “Let the FHFA get 11 or 12 months under its belt, and let’s prioritize GSE conversations, and potential privatization, for January 2026,” Flood said. “There’s some things it can do on its own, but anything they do should be paired with some reforms from Congress.”

– Brendan Pedersen

AD WARS

Will Trump cure cancer? Plus Wis. Scotus race heats up

Great American Tomorrow is running a new spot in D.C. that says President Donald Trump will “make cancer history” by Jan. 20, 2029.

Remember, former President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden made the “cancer moonshot” a big focus of his term in office too.

The America First Steel Alliance has a new ad airing in D.C. urging Trump to approve the U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel merger. Trump was opposed to the merger but now says that he’d be supportive of the Japan-based Nippon Steel taking a minority stake in the Pittsburgh-based company.

House Freedom Action, the campaign arm of the House Freedom Caucus, is getting involved in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. HFA, the super PAC arm of House Freedom Fund, is investing $50,000 in two new ads slamming candidate Susan Crawford as a “left-wing extremist” who wants to “turn Wisconsin into Illinois.”

The ostensibly nonpartisan race, which pits Crawford against GOP-aligned Brad Schimel, will determine whether liberals or conservatives have a majority on the state supreme court. And with cases involving congressional redistricting in the pipeline, national groups are taking notice ahead of the April election.

Invest in Our Land has a new ad opposing proposed cuts in conservation funding. The spot, airing in Madison, Wis., says that the cuts will be used to “give tax breaks to big corporations.”

– Jake Sherman and Max Cohen

… AND THERE’S MORE

GOP Sen. Jon Husted, appointed last month by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to succeed now Vice President JD Vance, has assembled his senior staff.

Rebecca Card Angelson will serve as Husted’s chief of staff. Angelson was chief of staff for Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio).

Joshua Eck, Husted’s chief of staff as Ohio lieutenant governor, will become state director. Jess Andrews will be deputy chief of staff, moving over from Sen. John Kennedy’s (R-La.) office.

Sean Dunn will be senior adviser and counsel, Maggie Ward will be legislative director and Katie Tomko will be director of operations and administration.

– John Bresnahan

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