The Archive

IN THIS EDITION

Johnson traps Schumer on Bibi

What to expect in the farm bill markup

Suozzi takes lead on border task force amid Cuellar indictment

Thune talks 5G, GOP leadership and the filibuster

Republicans target non-citizens on election bills

THE TOP

Johnson traps Schumer on Bibi

Happy Thursday morning.

For the first time this Congress, Speaker Mike Johnson has boxed in Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. And he did it on a topic that’s near to Schumer’s heart — Israel.

Johnson’s decision to publicly — and quite relentlessly — push for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to travel to Washington to address a joint meeting of Congress has put Schumer in an unusually uncomfortable position inside the Senate Democratic Caucus, where opinions of the Israeli leader have sunk to a new low.

The politics are easy for Johnson. His conference is in lock-step behind Netanyahu. And Johnson is using Israel as a political cudgel against Democrats.

It’s more complicated for Schumer. The New York Democrat has called for Israel to hold new elections to oust Netanyahu, describing him as an obstacle to peace as the bloody war in Gaza drags on.

So Johnson is putting Schumer in an awkward spot here. Still, Schumer has said he’ll join the invitation because the U.S.-Israel relationship “transcends” any one leader.

Yet Schumer is already under pressure from Democrats who say it would be inappropriate to do so while the war continues without an apparent endgame. These Democrats argue it would give Netanyahu a platform to boost his standing back home while playing up disputes with President Joe Biden.

Democrats also view it as a rerun of 2015 when Netanyahu used his congressional address in a failed effort to block the Iran nuclear deal. Rank-and-file Democrats warn Netanyahu is making support for Israel a partisan issue on Capitol Hill, something Schumer has tried to prevent.

“The horse is out of the barn. Israel is just another issue that Republicans are trying to gain an advantage on,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. “If he’s going to come here and pick a fight with Democrats, I don’t know that that helps anybody. Netanyahu’s in the business of holding on to political power, not bringing peace.”

This is news: Johnson’s team is eyeing a Netanyahu speech before the August recess, although they are deferring to the prime minister’s team on an exact date. There are only six weeks of legislative session between now and the August recess. One week is the NATO summit in D.C. So time is short.

Johnson and Netanyahu spoke on Wednesday. The conversation was focused on Johnson’s forthcoming legislation to sanction the International Criminal Court over potential arrest warrants for Netanyahu and other Israeli officials. No vote is expected until after the Memorial Day recess.

The two briefly discussed the speech and vowed to continue to try to find a date that works for Netanyahu. If it comes together, it would likely be one of the most divisive addresses to Congress in U.S. history.

The pressure game: Johnson’s staff has put private and public pressure on Schumer to join him in inviting Netanyahu. The speaker’s staff told Schumer’s aides that the Louisiana Republican was setting a Tuesday deadline to commit to signing the invitation.

When the speaker’s office didn’t hear back, Johnson made the deadline public — even though Schumer had said weeks before that he would sign onto an invitation.

Schumer and Johnson spoke briefly about the issue Wednesday during a private meeting of the Joint Congressional Committee on the Inauguration.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Johnson handled the matter “skillfully” with Schumer.

“He basically just said, ‘I’m going to invite them. And you guys can show up or you don’t have to show up.’ And I think he put them in a box,” McCaul said.

Dems respond: Many Democrats don’t think Schumer should go along with Johnson’s move.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who earlier this week said the ICC would be “right” to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu, responded with a resounding “No” when we asked if Schumer should join the invitation.

“I may have a conversation with Sen. Schumer just to understand his thinking,” added Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

Alex Nguyen, Schumer’s spokesman, offered this comment:

Also: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is expected to try to pass a two-year extension of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act on the floor today. We’re told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) will object. Lee has been facing criticism back home for voting against the more comprehensive RECA extension in March.

News: Senate Democrats held a fundraiser Wednesday evening featuring Angela Alsobrooks, the Maryland candidate. The reception was hosted by the DSCC Majority Rising Program.

— Jake Sherman and Andrew Desiderio

Join us at our event! Today at 8:30 a.m. ET we’re discussing news of the day and how AI can affect economic opportunity, productivity and innovation with Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind). There’s still time to RSVP and join us on the livestream.

FARM BILL FIGHT

What to expect in the farm bill markup

The House Agriculture Committee will markup its $1.5 trillion farm bill proposal today.

The nearly 1,000-page-long bill would set a five-year reauthorization for critical farm, food safety and nutrition programs.

House Republicans are desperately trying to pass the bill with bipartisan support, but there’s still plenty of Democratic opposition over GOP-proposed freezes to SNAP payments and changes to environmental and conservation programs.

In other words, there’s a lot at stake both for policy and politics. Here’s what we’re focusing on.

GOP wooing: House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) has been trying to win over vulnerable Democrats to support the bill.

We scooped Wednesday night that Thompson met with four Frontline Democrats on the committee — Reps. Angie Craig (Minn.), Nikki Budzinski (Ill.), Andrea Salinas (Ore.) and Eric Sorensen (Ill.) — in an unsuccessful bid to back his proposal before today’s vote. Craig had called the meeting.

Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), who serves as vice chair of the committee, said he was also having conversations with Democrats seeking their support.

“Most of us have pretty good relationships across party lines, so we’ll hopefully be able to work through this,” Scott told us. “For some Democrats on our committee, ag is the number one industry in their districts.”

Democrats’ opposition: For their part, Democrats are only expected to offer a handful of amendments to the underlying bill during the markup, but these will be major changes that Thompson and Republicans won’t support.

Craig told us that the Republican bill doesn’t do enough to earn Democrats’ backing.

“It may get a little bit of Democratic support, but what I would say is that there is a better farm bill on behalf of family farmers and Americans that we can get to,” Craig told us. “We need to stay and ask Republicans to sit down with us and negotiate that. This is not that.”

Democratic leadership also has been working to keep their rank-and-file unified against the proposal.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a call Monday with Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), the panel’s ranking member, to discuss how to keep Democrats together against the bill.

We also reported that preliminary scoring from the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the Thompson plan would increase the deficit by nearly $40 billion over the next decade.

Senate view: Senate Democrats are seeking to bring Republicans back to the negotiating table.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) unveiled her own proposed package of more than 100 related bipartisan bills.

Stabenow said the only way to get any kind of farm bill through the Senate is one that can get bipartisan support.

“I hope that they’re willing to sit down and really listen after they’re done with their markup about what it’s going to take to get a bipartisan bill,” Stabenow told us.

One thing we are certain about is that we can expect a long day. Committee staff predict the markup will take a minimum of six hours. But they also warn it could go up to nine hours under some scenarios.

— Mica Soellner

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Suozzi takes lead on border task force amid Cuellar indictment

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) is taking the reins of the House Democrats’ border security task force after his co-chair Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was indicted on federal bribery and money laundering charges late last month. Imelda Cuellar, the congressman’s wife, was also charged in the case.

Cuellar will remain co-chair, we’re told. The task force, formally titled “Democrats for Border Security,” is meant to be a messaging solution for Frontliners who are getting hammered on border security and immigration by Republicans.

“[Cuellar is] going to stay involved as co-chair, but he’s asked me to take the lead,” Suozzi told us.

That decision isn’t sitting well with some members of the task force. These Democrats expressed concern that keeping Cuellar in this position could be a distraction on an issue that’s important to their own reelections.

Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) said she thinks Cuellar should consider stepping down, adding that the border is a top concern in her district.

“I don’t want any distractions to get things accomplished,” Budzinski told us. “It is one of the top issues coming into November.”

Rep. Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) signaled that Cuellar isn’t the only option to co-lead the group.

“There are many more people who are part of that task force,” Nickel told us.

Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio) said it didn’t matter to her who led the task force, but worried about personalities overshadowing the policy work.

“There’s plenty of people who can discuss this issue,” Sykes told us.

Cuellar defended the decision to keep his co-chair title.

“I’m still going to be part of the work,” Cuellar told us. “Border security is still an issue even though the numbers have gone down.”

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) backed Cuellar’s decision, saying the veteran lawmaker has experience on border issues that many in the Democratic Caucus lack.

“He’s still in the House and he’s obviously got a lot of knowledge about the border,” Gonzalez told us. “He still has an important contribution and we’ve got to keep working.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced earlier this month that Cuellar is taking leave from his position as the ranking member of the Homeland Security subcommittee on the Appropriations panel.

Cuellar has also temporarily stepped aside from his leadership role as chief deputy whip.

But when we asked Jeffries about Cuellar continuing to lead the task force, the New York Democrat said that has not come up in leadership discussions and he hasn’t heard from any of his members about it being an issue.

Meanwhile, Suozzi is already leading the border security caucus. Suozzi was handing out plans to members on Wednesday about their next meeting. The caucus, which hasn’t met since it launched in March, will hold its next meeting on June 3.

— Mica Soellner

PUNCHBOWL NEWS EVENTS

Thune talks 5G, GOP leadership and the filibuster

Senate Minority Whip John Thune joined us Wednesday to talk about Congress’ role in shaping spectrum policy, the upcoming Senate GOP leadership race and his thoughts on preserving the filibuster.

Afterward, we were joined by Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to talk about 5G, spectrum and current trends in connectivity both on and off the football field.

Missed the event? Catch the full video here.

— Heather Caygle

ELECTION NATION

Republicans target non-citizens on election bills

The House will vote today on a GOP bill repealing a D.C. law that allows non-citizens to vote in D.C. elections.

At the same time, the House Administration Committee will mark up a series of Republican-sponsored election bills, including one that will require voters to prove they’re U.S. citizens before being allowed to register to cast a ballot in a federal election.

With these moves, House Republicans are trying to tie together two of their favored issues — immigration and allegations of election fraud. Former President Donald Trump is pushing both in his bid to get back to the Oval Office. And Speaker Mike Johnson — who needed Trump’s help to keep his hold on the gavel — and other top House Republicans have taken up the same line.

In addition to the SAVE Act, authored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) has queued up a handful of other bills for today’s markup.

The Republican-drafted bills would bar non-citizens from having any administrative role in elections, ban the use of federal funds for elections in states that permit ballot harvesting and expand limits on how donations from non-Americans can be used in elections, among other things.

We’ll point out that it’s already illegal for a non-citizen to even register to vote in federal elections, much less actually vote. There’s also no evidence that this is a problem or that non-citizens have had any measurable impact on any elections anywhere at any time, despite what Johnson or Trump suggest.

But Steil — who held a hearing on this issue last week — noted there have been examples in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and other states where non-citizens ended up on voter registration rolls. This is often through programs tied to driver’s licenses or voter registration drives. A small number of non-citizens have also cast ballots.

“It’s already illegal to cross the [U.S.] border,” Steil said in an interview. “We’re trying to preserve the integrity of the process.”

Yet Rep. Joe Morelle (N.Y.), top Democrat on House Administration, sees another angle here that could be a replay of the false claims over the 2020 elections.

Morelle suggested that “It’s more insidious in my view. I believe this is the setting, the pretext for objecting to the 2024 election results if they lose. As we used to say as kids, heads I win, tails you lose. So this is they win either way.”

Steil didn’t have a timetable for when any of these bills would reach the floor. Democrats also argue that none of this legislation will make it through the Democratic-controlled Senate or be supported by the Biden administration.

— John Bresnahan

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