War abroad. Chaos at home.

IN THIS EDITION

Israel attacks. And America’s political system is on edge

Finance GOP nears tax, health text

Conservatives bristle over judges’ security funding

Cocktails & Conversation: The Creator Economy

Stevens staffs up with Slotkin, Stabenow alums

THE TOP

Israel attacks. And America’s political system is on edge

Happy Friday morning.

Israeli forces launched a punishing wave of attacks against nuclear and military sites on Thursday night, threatening a wider war across the Middle East and dashing any chances of a U.S. deal with Iran.

Along with destroying Iranian nuclear sites, Israeli attacks killed Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, and Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Top Iranian nuclear scientists were also hit in the raids, which involved 200-plus warplanes.

Iran has launched more than 100 drones against Israel, and additional counter-strikes are expected.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a long statement in English on Operation Rising Lion. Netanyahu said Iran is a growing threat to both Israel and the United States, and he vowed to continue the campaign as long as necessary.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “our top priority is protecting American forces in the region” while warning “Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”

While supporting Israel, a number of Democrats, including Sens. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Andy Kim (N.J.) and Tim Kaine (Va.), said the Israeli strikes were deliberately meant to derail U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran. Murphy blamed President Donald Trump for failing to prevent a wider regional conflict.

Also: Speaker Mike Johnson is scheduled to address the Knesset – Israel’s parliament – in Jerusalem on June 22.

And in the United States. … The national political scene is on the verge of boiling over.

A U.S. senator — Democrat Alex Padilla of California — was thrown to the ground and handcuffed Thursday after he disrupted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference in California.

Padilla posed no discernible threat to Noem, although Noem and other Trump administration officials claimed he “lunged” at her. Padilla – a longtime California official prior to coming to the Senate in 2021 – identified himself as a senator before being forcibly removed from the room.

Yet Padilla was put in handcuffs in the very state he represents in the Senate.

Moments after the incident, Rep. John Mannion (D-N.Y.), a freshman, stood up on the House floor and screamed at Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who was chatting with Democrats on their side of the chamber.

“Fucking get over there and get some fucking balls,” Mannion screamed on the House floor, bring everything to a halt. “The country’s falling apart.” The two later traded barbs online.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) followed that up by moving to adjourn the House, saying that Padilla was “attacked, illegally attacked, and [dragged] to the ground.” Padilla’s fellow Democratic senators held the Senate floor for several hours to defend Padilla and harangue the Trump administration.

A bit later, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) told Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) to “Just shut up” when the junior Democrat repeatedly said the panel should subpoena Noem. Not to be outdone, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said that Frost has “been arrested as a former ANTIFA member.”

Decorum is an afterthought on Capitol Hill in 2025.

A boiling pot. Thursday was just the exclamation point on a brutally partisan week.

On Tuesday, Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver (N.J.) was indicted on charges that she illegally interfered with federal officers during a May 9 protest at an ICE detention facility in Newark. McIver has denied any wrongdoing.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Alina Habba — Trump’s former defense lawyer and interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey who obtained the indictment — a “political hack … who is woefully unqualified to be the state’s top prosecutor.” Jeffries said he’d raise money to help McIver pay for her legal defense.

On Wednesday, Del. Stacey Plaskett, (D-V.I.) sparred with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a Ways and Means Committee hearing. After Bessent told Plaskett she was wrong about the stock market’s performance, here’s how Plaskett responded:

Plaskett later unleashed a string of vulgar language on X in response to criticism of her performance.

The Trump factor: Top Democrats have been under tremendous pressure from their base to be more confrontational since Trump’s stunning victory in the November elections, an unprecedented political comeback that led from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack back to the Oval Office.

Trump helped Republicans take the Senate and hold the House, handing the GOP total control of Washington. Trump has used that like a blank check to do pretty much anything he wants.

Since Jan. 20, Trump has stunned Democrats with DOGE-led federal layoffs, trade wars, immigration raids, shutting down agencies and departments, environmental and regulatory rollbacks – everything they dreaded would happen.

This week, Trump federalized California National Guard troops over the objections of city and state officials and then sent them and the Marines into Los Angeles in response to anti-ICE riots. Trump will hold a massive military parade in D.C. this Saturday – also his 79th birthday – even while anti-Trump protestors stage “No Kings” rallies nationwide.

Yet the clashes aren’t only Democrat vs. Republican.

A number of GOP senators, principally Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), screamed at Stephen Miller, a key Trump aide, about the administration’s border funding figures for the reconciliation bill during a private meeting Thursday. Senate Republicans were dumbfounded at how their party was suddenly arguing about a topic that unifies them.

Republican Mary Miller (Ill.) posted on X last week that she found it “deeply troubling that Muslim was allowed to lead prayer in the House of Representatives.” But the man was a Sikh, not a Muslim. Following a barrage of criticism, Miller first revised and then deleted the offensive tweets.

The tensions coursing through the Capitol will have an impact on policy debates this Congress. Capitol Hill has to work together to fund the government in just 109 days. And remember: This acrimony will only grow worse as we near the 2026 midterms.

– Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan

THE AGENDA

Finance GOP nears tax, health text

It’s a huge day for Senate Republicans’ sprint to pass President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.

The Senate Finance Committee is likely to release its legislative text for the reconciliation bill in two parts. The first portion could come today, and if so, the second would come Monday.

Finance has responsibility for two separate sections of the bill: the tax package and health care provisions, which consist mainly of Medicaid spending cuts.

Finance Republicans are holding a member call at noon to talk through their plans.

This all comes after Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) met with Trump at the White House on Thursday afternoon to talk about the health and tax sections.

The release of the Finance Committee’s text over the coming days is critical if Republicans want to meet their goal of sending a bill to Trump’s desk by July 4 — or at least get it through the Senate. But all the knotty details aren’t settled yet.

SALT stalemate: Finance Republicans are expected to punt on the biggest tax hangup in the bill — for now. They’ll likely put a much lower cap on deducting state and local taxes than what the House passed in their initial text, in line with Senate Republicans’ preferences.

That would be intended as a placeholder of sorts as negotiations continue.

The House GOP leadership and the White House are pressuring Senate Republicans to keep the SALT deal that passed the House intact. But GOP senators are dug in against the bill’s $40,000 deduction limit for taxpayers earning up to $500,000.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who’s facilitating negotiations with the SALT caucus, said they’re “very aware” of the Senate’s feelings on state-and-local tax deductions. Here’s what Mullin said when asked whether he takes the SALT caucus’ threats to tank the bill seriously:

Trump, Senate priorities: The Senate Finance Committee is expected to get close to the House-passed bill’s number on Trump’s tax priorities. That comes after heavy pressure from the White House to avoid scaling back.

Still, Senate Republicans will put their own spin on these provisions, which include no tax on tips, no tax on overtime pay and tax cuts for seniors. A number of the tax cuts will likely look different from the House’s version.

But Senate Finance Republicans will also get their own win: making key business provisions permanent. This includes tax breaks for R&D spending, interest expenses and purchases of machinery and equipment. The House bill revived the tax breaks for five years.

The Trump administration preferred the House timeline, believing a shorter-term extension would drive faster economic investment. But it’s not clear that it could get the votes in the Senate. So the White House is on board with permanency.

— Laura Weiss, Andrew Desiderio and Jake Sherman

HOUSE REPUBLICANS

Conservatives bristle over judges’ security funding

House Republicans are divided over a hefty request by judicial branch officials for a large increase in spending, in part due to rising threats of violence against federal judges.

The federal judiciary is seeking $9.4 billion for FY2026 — nearly a 10% increase after its budget remained flat the past two years. That request includes a 19% funding boost for court security, which judges say is crucial to ensure their safety. The judiciary makes its own budget request separate from the president’s “skinny” budget.

But Republicans, who control all of Washington, are continuing their crusade against federal judges, who they accuse of trying to interfere with President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Seventh Circuit Judge Amy J. St. Eve, the chair of the Budget Committee of the Judicial Conference of the U.S., and Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., meanwhile, have said they have significant concerns about the judiciary’s ability to secure federal courthouses while threats against federal judges are on the rise.

Threats against judges have nearly doubled since Trump took office, according to recent U.S. Marshals Service data reported by the New York Times.

“I don’t know that there’s going to be a lot of people excited about giving them an increase,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told us.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wasn’t eager to entertain the request, either.

“Maybe they should stop screwing everything up,” Roy said.

Republicans have tried to rein in the judiciary through means outside the appropriations process, too.

The House passed a bill led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in April aimed at limiting district judges’ power to impose nationwide injunctions. Some House conservatives also proposed impeaching U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who Trump personally went after.

The big picture: Republicans will need Democratic support to fund the government, so they may need to compromise on more funding for the judicial branch.

House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) was more sympathetic to the judiciary’s needs. Cole said the judiciary has “legitimate concerns.” Appropriators want to be helpful, but it’s unclear if they can secure more funding for court security this year, Cole said.

“It’s a serious question, so we’ll see how it goes through the process,” Cole said, adding that he’s talking about the issue with appropriations members.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), a House appropriations cardinal, said appropriators will likely find some way to provide more resources to the judicial branch, but it won’t be up to the level the judiciary has asked for.

Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus who also sits on the Judiciary and Appropriations Committees, said political violence has become an issue that judges aren’t exempt from.

“It is only appropriate for judges to want appropriate protection,” Cline said. “For security, I am open to increasing their budget.”

Meanwhile, Democrats emphasized the need to urgently fund the judicial branch and take increased threats seriously.

“We need to invest appropriately in the security of our judges,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. “We have had violent threats and attacks on judges and against the families of judges, so it’s a serious time.”

– Mica Soellner and Samantha Handler

PUNCHBOWL NEWS EVENTS

Cocktails & Conversation: The Creator Economy

On Thursday night, we hosted Cocktails & Conversation: The Creator Economy, an event featuring networking, light bites and a fireside chat about the growing number of content creators and how they contribute to the U.S. economy.

During the event, Punchbowl News CEO Anna Palmer sat down for a conversation with content creator Cowboy Kent Rollins and YouTube’s senior manager for government affairs and public policy, Josh Blumenfeld. This served as the kick-off of our newest series, The Creator Economy. Thank you to YouTube for partnering with us on this event.

Raising a glass: Arturo Gutierrez and Alex Vela of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-Nev.) office; Hunter Koski of Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R-La.) office; Michaela Johnson of Rep. Debbie Dingell’s (D-Mich.) office; Anna Louise Judson of Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) office; Diana Solares of Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s (D-Conn.) office; Celia Olivas of Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-Ill.) office; Kitchy Cook and Uday Aryal of the Senate Commerce Committee; Avery Judd and Sahil Mehrotra of Sen. Maggie Hassan’s (D-N.H.) office; Shinnola Alexander of Rep. Sara Jacobs’ (D-Calif.) office; Wilken Yu of the Federal Trade Commission; Vanessa Khachane of YouTube; and Katelyn Brantley of Google.

THE CAMPAIGN

Stevens staffs up with Slotkin, Stabenow alums

News: Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-Mich.) Senate campaign is hiring top figures who ran successful campaigns for Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and former Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

Terra DeFoe, who was Slotkin’s deputy political director in 2024, will serve as Stevens’ political director. Jason Ellenburg, who was Stabenow’s campaign manager in 2018, will be a political adviser for Stevens’ campaign.

The Stevens campaign is also hiring David Kramer as chair of the campaign’s finance council. Kramer was part of Slotkin’s finance committee.

Stevens is running in a crowded Democratic primary that also features state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former health official Abdul El-Sayed. The Democrats are vying for a chance to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

— Max Cohen

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