The 2026 spending fight kicks off

IN THIS EDITION

Dems: White House won’t share info on what’s happening inside departments

Battle to be top Dem on Oversight begins

Protect Our Jobs targets vulnerable Republicans

VoteVets endorses Mendoza in Ariz. swing seat

THE TOP

Dems: White House won’t share info on what’s happening inside departments

Happy Wednesday morning.

With the battle over FY2026 funding set to begin in earnest next week on Capitol Hill, the top House and Senate Democratic appropriators are accusing the White House of failing to disclose what it’s doing with hundreds of federal accounts and billions of dollars already approved by Congress.

The latest missive from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) to OMB Director Russ Vought – which we’re reporting here first – shows how difficult the battle over government funding is going to be this summer and into the fall.

After months of DOGE-related layoffs for thousands of government employees, the elimination of USAID, an executive order calling for the end of the Education Department, a potential $1 billion cut to the D.C. budget and even a Trump administration official lamenting proposed spending cuts, the House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to begin subcommittee markups late next week on FY2026 spending bills.

The White House hasn’t delivered a full budget proposal yet, only a “skinny” budget plan that called for cutting $163 billion in non-defense spending while boosting Pentagon funding. The proposal stunned Democrats and moderate Republicans while setting up a contentious spending fight. House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said he’s going to try to stick to the Trump plan as closely as he can.

But Murray and DeLauro accuse OMB of failing to provide information on spending for hundreds of programs within federal agencies, preventing appropriators from knowing exactly what’s going on inside those departments.

Here’s the opening sentence from their letter: “Your lack of transparency shows disdain for the right of the public to understand how taxpayer dollars are being spent and for the rule of law.” And that’s the nicest part.

More from Murray and DeLauro (this is long and detailed but worth reading):

Vought has long argued that the executive branch, not Congress, should have final say over where federal dollars are spent, which doesn’t make him any friends among Hill Democrats. Vought recently mocked a GAO opinion that found the Transportation Department can’t legally withhold $5 billion in electric vehicle infrastructure funding mandated under the 2021 infrastructure law. Vought called GAO’s opinion “Rearview mirror stuff.”

OMB also shut down a website in March that allowed federal spending to be tracked. That move led to some rare bipartisan pushback from House and Senate appropriators, including Cole. However, the website hasn’t been restored.

Plus, OMB delayed sending a $9 billion-plus rescissions package to Congress until the House finishes work on the reconciliation package.

We expect to see Cole and House GOP appropriators will roll out the first of their FY2026 spending bills early next week. The MilCon-VA and Agriculture subcommittees have scheduled markups for Thursday. Homeland Security and the classified portion of the Defense bill will be marked up the following week. Cole has set a full committee markup for the MilCon-VA bill for Tuesday, June 10.

Cole wants all 12 spending bills marked up by the full Appropriations Committee by late July, with some of them on the floor that month.

Also on the docket: The Senate will begin work on its version of the massive Republican reconciliation package next week. Both Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune say they want the reconciliation bill on President Donald Trump’s desk by July 4. We have our doubts about that timetable, although Johnson kept to his Memorial Day deadline for House action.

In this case, it’s doubly important because the reconciliation package is the vehicle Republicans are using for raising the debt limit. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the federal government will run out of borrowing authority in August, so he wants the debt limit lifted by mid-July.

The House and Senate will be working on appropriations bills over the next couple of months, with government funding running out on Oct. 1. Sitting here now, a shutdown showdown is very possible, maybe even unavoidable, depending on what happens on reconciliation.

– John Bresnahan

HOUSE OVERSIGHT RACE

Battle to be top Dem on Oversight begins

The race is on to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

The caucus will vote at 9 a.m. on June 24 by secret ballot.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar announced the date in a Dear Colleague letter that we scooped for you shortly after the Tuesday funeral of the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). Aguilar said he’d seek a waiver to hold the election a few days past the 30-day window stipulated by caucus rules.

It’s a competitive four-way race with no clear front-runner — at least for now. The contenders: Democratic Reps. Stephen Lynch (Mass.), Kweisi Mfume (Md.), Robert Garcia (Calif.) and Jasmine Crockett (Texas).

The timing is always awkward in races like this. Candidates need to move quickly to secure endorsements and try to box out other contenders. But everyone also wants to be respectful after the death of a beloved colleague. Lynch, Crockett and Mfume were all at Connolly’s funeral Tuesday.

What’s next: Expect to see some Dear Colleague letters in the coming days formally announcing candidacies, according to Democratic sources. The four members have already been working behind the scenes to gather support after Connolly announced weeks ago that he planned to step back from the post.

Lynch is the acting ranking member and can lean on seniority as he makes his pitch to members. He has been essentially auditioning for the role in Connolly’s absence, but has been passed over for the position more than once before.

The race is quickly becoming the latest fault line in the battle within the caucus — and the party — for generational change. It pits Lynch and Mfume, the senior members of the panel, against two sophomores.

Behind the scenes: In conversations with members, Garcia has stressed his executive experience serving as the mayor of a major city for eight years, according to a person familiar with his pitch. Garcia has also highlighted his willingness to be a team player, pay DCCC dues and donate to members in tough races.

Some members and aides said privately that Garcia could be a top candidate. He’s younger, a strong communicator and a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. But Garcia has a lot of work ahead of him to secure enough endorsements between now and the vote, according to Democrats we spoke to this week.

Some liberal activists and influencers, such as David Hogg, have been praising Crockett on podcasts and social media. Of course, they don’t vote in this election.

Crockett said she would seek the post in a Sunday interview on MSNBC. The Texas Democrat described herself as a brawler who would “fight fearlessly and ferociously for the American people” despite facing daily death threats.

“I am hoping and praying that my colleagues see that I can provide what we need as a team to make sure that we can move forward and instill some confidence in the American people,” she told MSNBC’s Alex Witt.

– Ally Mutnick

THE AIRWAVES

Protect Our Jobs targets vulnerable Republicans

News: Protect Our Jobs, a pro-clean energy group, is pouring $1 million this week into ads targeting House Republicans who backed the reconciliation bill.

The ad campaign slams the Republican effort to roll back clean energy tax credits enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act. The House Freedom Caucus pushed hard to repeal these tax credits while a number of GOP moderates weren’t fully on board.

But now that the House has cleared the reconciliation package, Protect Our Jobs is accusing the lawmakers of abandoning projects that benefit their districts.

The ads are running against Republican Reps. Tom Barrett (Mich.), John James (Mich.), Derrick Van Orden (Wis.), Scott Perry (Pa.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Mike Carey (Ohio), Juan Ciscomani (Ariz.), Gabe Evans (Colo.), Mark Amodei (Nev.), Buddy Carter (Ga.) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa).

Here’s the ad targeting Barrett, a vulnerable freshman who flipped the seat previously held by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).

“Tom Barrett just voted to cut clean energy production. Well, that’ll kill thousands of jobs,” a Republican electrician says in the ad. “Congressman, you turned your back on us. That’s not leadership. That’s selling us out.”

Barrett, Van Orden, Perry, Fitzpatrick, Ciscomani, Miller-Meeks and Evans are among the most endangered House GOP incumbents. James and Carter are both running statewide next year in the competitive battleground states of Michigan and Georgia, respectively.

Protect Our Jobs has spent $5 million to date this cycle on ads and is quickly becoming a major player in the battle for the House. As Democrats look to reclaim control of the chamber, targeting Republicans on the sprawling reconciliation package is the party’s main avenue of attack.

Sensing a backlash, a group of Republican senators has joined forces in an attempt to protect some of the clean energy tax credits that the House is slashing.

— Max Cohen

THE HOUSE BATTLEGROUND

VoteVets endorses Mendoza in Ariz. swing seat

News: VoteVets, a liberal group dedicated to electing veteran lawmakers, is endorsing JoAnna Mendoza in Arizona’s 6th District.

Mendoza is vying for a chance to take on vulnerable Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) in the general election. In the past two cycles, Democrats ran former state Sen. Kirsten Engel against Ciscomani and lost narrowly both times.

Now, Mendoza is angling to win the nomination with an aggressive early launch. The Marine veteran raised $816,000 in the first quarter and received an endorsement from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ BOLD PAC.

Arizona’s 6th District is a true purple seat. The district voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 after narrowly backing former President Joe Biden in 2020.

VoteVets is a major player in the Democratic primary space and works in tandem with other top Democratic outside groups. It possesses the resources to swing ad spending in its candidates’ favor. Last cycle, the group spent $50 million to support endorsed candidates.

“While Juan Ciscomani lacks the courage to stand up to the special interests that fund his campaign, JoAnna can always be counted on to advocate for hardworking Arizonans,” VoteVets senior adviser Max Rose, the former New York lawmaker, said in a statement.

— Max Cohen

THE CAMPAIGN

Exclusive: The Club for Growth will air a TV ad on the Sunday shows urging Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to support the reconciliation bill. The spot says Murkowski can stop a tax hike for Alaskans by ensuring “Trump’s tax cuts” don’t expire. Check out the ad here.

Poll watch: A new poll out of Michigan found Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) leading the Senate Democratic primary over former health official Abdul El-Sayed and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. Stevens has 34% support among registered voters, ahead of El-Sayed with 17% and McMorrow with 14%.

The poll, commissioned by the Detroit Regional Chamber, also found Stevens was the only Democratic candidate leading among registered voters in a general election matchup against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.). However, Stevens’ lead among registered voters is within the poll’s margin of error.

— Ally Mutnick and Max Cohen

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