📝 The Readback: Burning the Hill midnight oil

IN THIS EDITION

The all-night markup survival guide

View from a protester arrested at markup marathon

On the run with lawmakers

A sleepy committee wakes up, thanks to Trump

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The all-night markup survival guide

Welcome to The Readback, our weekend digest featuring the best of Punchbowl News this week – a quick roundup of all our scoops, analysis and Capitol Hill insight you won’t find anywhere else. We’ve also included a few of our favorite outside reads from the week.

How do you make it through a marathon all-night legislating session?

I was in the House Ways and Means Committee’s nearly 18-hour markup of Republicans’ tax bill earlier this week. I was there when it kicked off Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., through the night and when it gaveled out to applause just after 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Big tax bill markups don’t come around often, so I was ready to be in it for the long haul. I had never really pulled a full all-nighter before, but I guess it’s never too late to start!

Here are the tips and tricks I picked up along the way.

If you want a seat, move fast: Ways and Means holds its meetings in perhaps the most iconic hearing room on the Hill. It’s huge with high ceilings and a bunch of tables and audience seating.

Still, the room was so packed at the start of the markup that big crowds of people watching — staffers, lobbyists and even former Ways and Means member Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) — were packed standing in between chairs and tables. The crowd thinned as the night wore on, but the room never totally emptied out.

The coldest room in Congress: 1100 Longworth is famous on the Hill for feeling like a frozen tundra. But with the crowds early on Tuesday, it got way too hot. Then, right about midnight, the temperature plummeted.

So the name of the game is layers. Members and reporters pulled out scarves and blankets. Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) was sporting an American flag blanket. A fuzzy blanket emblazoned with the Ways and Means Committee seal was brought in. I also spotted a Kansas City Chiefs blanket. (Go Birds!)

How to stay awake: The caffeine options were all over the place.

Ways and Means members relied on coffee, tea, Celsius, Diet Coke, Monster and 5-hour Energy to get through the night. Some Republicans took a cigar break.

I had three cups of coffee and an Arnold Palmer in total, which was less than I expected. I decided the next day it was time to start drinking Celsius, so the need for a big caffeine boost caught up with me.

Snacks also help: Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) brought in Carmine’s for dinner. Ranking Member Richie Neal (D-Mass.) got his staff Cava.

Have some viral moments: During Ways and Means’ markup, the tax fight was on full display. Democrats challenged Republicans with dozens of amendment votes.

There were also lighter moments. There were jokes about sharing rum around 4:30 a.m. when Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett brought up the rum cover over. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) was called on to vote on an amendment just before 5 a.m. but had fallen asleep in his chair. It took an effort to wake him up.

But behind the scenes, there was a moment where it wasn’t clear how this was all going to unfold. Speaker Mike Johnson approached Smith during the Tuesday evening vote series about potentially delaying the rest of the markup to get a deal with blue-state Republicans on the SALT cap. Ultimately, the show went on.

What I’m watching: The Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles’ 2025 schedule is out. I’m looking forward to showing the Cowboys what we’re about in week one. Also, I’ve started The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season two.

– Laura Weiss

Dive deeper into tax policy with Punchbowl News’ tax reporter Laura Weiss. Join us in person at the National Association of Insurance Financial Advisors’ Congressional Conference on Monday, May 19, where Weiss will discuss the future of tax reform, small business growth and C-SALT with NAIFA’s CEO. Catch our takeaways from the conversation afterwards on LinkedIn.

View from a protester arrested at markup marathon

We love to learn about the different sorts of Hill “characters” here on the Punchbowl News Readback, and one I’ve always wondered about is the hearing protester.

As long as things don’t get dangerous, there’s something intriguing to me about people who deliberately disrupt lawmakers in order to highlight a particular issue.

I certainly expected the Energy and Commerce Committee markup of its portion of the reconciliation bill to start off with Medicaid protesters. After all, the Congressional Budget Office estimates millions of people would lose Medicaid or other insurance due to the combination of the bill’s tightening work requirements with lapsing subsidies.

I caught up with one protester, Domonique Howell, of Philadelphia.

Howell, 39, is on Medicaid and uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. For about seven years, she’s been an activist with ADAPT, which fights for what it calls “the right to community” for people with disabilities.

A veteran of 10 or so protests with ADAPT, Howell was one of the five activists who volunteered to enter the hearing room and disrupt the markup while drawing attention to their concerns. The other 95 or so were outside chanting “no cuts to Medicaid.”

“Without Medicaid, I cannot have home- and community-based services,” Howell told me. “Without Medicaid, we will be thrown into nursing homes and we will lose a lot of our independence.”

The group often plans for protests months in advance, though they made it to this hearing that was only scheduled last week. For Howell, there’s often a “good nervousness” ahead of any action. She tries to channel frustration, confusion and anger into her activism.

Republicans say people with disabilities won’t face the work requirements. Rather, the GOP contends the bill would get rid of fraud and abuse to put the program on solid financial footing for Americans who need it.

Howell doesn’t buy it.

“We have enough evidence to prove that the Republican Party is not on our side,” she said.

About 25 protesters with ADAPT were also arrested, Howell told me. After Capitol Police removed Howell from the hearing, she was fined $50 dollars and released.

Howell said she can’t afford it.

“Whatever the consequences or further action taken, any ADAPT member is ready for it,” she said. “That’s what we do best. We adapt in any situation.”

What I’m reading: I’ve been gobbling up previews of “Original Sin,” the forthcoming book on President Joe Biden’s health and decision to run again.

– Ben Brody

On the run with lawmakers

As the informally designated sports correspondent at Punchbowl News, I found myself at Anacostia Park just before 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

Hundreds of runners gathered in the misty spring haze, eager to hit the three-mile course of the ACLI Capital Challenge. Just like last week’s Congressional Soccer Match, lawmakers joined in the fun along with journalists.

For the first time, Punchbowl News fielded a team in the competition. I joined my fearless colleagues Mica Soellner, MT March, Maddie Sugg and Max Dreitlein to line up against other media organizations and a select few brave members of Congress.

As I was picking up my bib, Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) greeted me and joked he was surprised Punchbowl News let me race ahead of a busy day in Congress. It’s good to see that our reputation for covering the Hill 24/7 is strong, especially among members!

Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) defended his title as the fastest member of Congress, posting a time of 20 minutes and 34 seconds. I was happy to finish around a minute behind Casar, who told Mica and I after the race he was recovering from an achilles injury. Casar said a triathlon is next on his agenda and his physical therapist is telling him to stretch more. Relatable content!

Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) set the fastest time for a male senator and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) set the quickest time for a female senator. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) was the best female House member.

We also spotted Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joining in on the action, running the race flanked by her security team.

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), sporting a backwards University of Kentucky baseball cap, was another prominent participant.

It’s always fun to see politicians in a different scenario from the formal business setting of the U.S. Capitol. Just like us, they’re competitive people who crossed the finish line gasping for breath. And in another “feel good” factor, all race proceeds went toward a charitable program to boost financial literacy among the nation’s students.

Heading back to work after the race was no easy feat. But I can’t complain, given how many of our policy reporters pulled all-nighters covering reconciliation markups!

What I’m reading: Isaac Stanley-Becker’s excellent profile of White House special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Atlantic.

– Max Cohen

A sleepy committee wakes up, thanks to Trump

I’ve written a lot about the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over the years, particularly its slow slide into dysfunction and paralysis.

That trend has started to reverse itself over the past four months. Not everyone is pleased, though.

As we scooped on Thursday, President Donald Trump has been inserting himself into the committee’s day-to-day business in ways that are highly unusual and unprecedented. He’s constantly calling the panel’s chairman, Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), to inquire about certain ambassadorial and State Department nominees. They also meet regularly at the White House.

This dynamic has helped fuel a record pace of nominee approvals at the committee level. The panel sent another five nominations to the Senate floor on Thursday, bringing the total to 31.

But Democrats say Trump’s involvement is inappropriate and has caused Risch to ignore long-standing committee traditions. Yet at the same time, as we noted in our Thursday item, Democrats are torn because they believe it’s important to have Senate-confirmed ambassadors.

When we spoke with Risch about the committee’s breakneck pace, the Idaho Republican said Trump’s team was much more prepared on Day 1 of his second term than they were the first time around.

“When those guys left the White House four years ago, they didn’t leave. They just moved the operation,” Risch said. “They believed they were going back. I mean, these people were real believers.”

It helps that Senate GOP leaders are prioritizing these nominations, too. The Senate has confirmed more than a dozen of Trump’s diplomatic picks so far, with more coming next week. Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law, is set to win Senate confirmation by Tuesday for U.S. ambassador to France.

Kushner was one of the nominees Trump was tracking closely. Democrats staged a walkout during a recent markup that included Kushner’s nomination, which they said was scheduled without the customary notice period. They suggested that Risch did this because Trump was pressuring him to get the nomination approved ASAP.

Regardless of the motivation, Risch is taking victory laps as the committee continues to reverse the recent trends.

“I’m putting one foot in front of the other and we’re keeping on a schedule,” Risch told us.

What I’m watching: I’m loving the multi-day rollout of the NFL schedule for next season. The Eagles have a number of fun matchups, including a rematch with the Chiefs. And no, I haven’t come down from my Super Bowl high!

— Andrew Desiderio