A messy day in store for the Senate

IN THIS EDITION

Senate GOP leaders’ rough day ahead

Mamdani infuriates Congressional Hispanic Caucus

No topline deal in sight for Senate appropriations

DCCC names four Dems to Red to Blue

Haynes to K&L Gates

THE TOP

Senate GOP leaders’ rough day ahead

Happy Thursday morning.

New: President Donald Trump announced late Wednesday night that he’ll formally nominate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the post full-time. This will be a difficult nomination for Senate Republicans. There’s no guarantee that Blanche — Trump’s formal personal lawyer — can even get through the Judiciary Committee, much less get confirmed by the full Senate. More on Blanche and Senate Republicans below.

Reconciliation now. It’s going to be a really long day for Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso.

The GOP leadership duo is in for a marathon of twisting arms and whipping votes on two pieces of legislation that have little in common except for this: Trump has made passing them much harder than it needed to be.

Trump is causing Senate Republicans a ton of heartburn right now. GOP senators really want to wrap up the reconciliation bill funding ICE and Border Patrol, find a long-term solution for FISA Section 702 and move on to other priorities, like the long-stalled bipartisan affordable housing bill.

Vulnerable Republicans are desperate to show they’re trying to address the high cost of living, the top issue for voters. And GOP leaders want to be talking about their economic program — mostly the One Big Beautiful Bill’s tax cuts — amid a Democratic barrage over affordability.

Instead, Trump is lobbing problems at Senate Republicans in the middle of crucial legislative fights. Just in the last few weeks, the Trump administration tried to secure $1 billion for White House ballroom security, unveiled the “anti-weaponization” fund as the reconciliation bill was about to pass and tapped Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence days before another FISA deadline.

All of these moves derailed elements of the GOP’s agenda while heightening tensions between Trump and Senate Republicans. The Pulte standoff is far from solved and could tank FISA reauthorization altogether. Yet Trump isn’t showing any signs he cares much at all about Congress.

Now Trump wants to formally confirm Blanche as the nation’s top law-enforcement official. This comes just weeks after a hostile meeting between Blanche and Senate Republicans over the “anti-weaponization” fund that left GOP senators fuming and delayed the reconciliation bill. And for Senate Republicans, Trump’s move on Blanche could pave the way for the president to further erode their power on nominations.

Floor action. First up today is the GOP reconciliation bill, which has been stalled for two weeks over the weaponization fund fiasco.

Despite assurances from Blanche that the fund won’t move forward, some GOP senators want to codify that promise into law, especially as Trump is still actively defending the fund. Several Republicans have indicated they’d oppose the bill on final passage if it doesn’t include such language. GOP leaders can’t lose more than three votes on final passage.

“We need to take action here. It’s creating headwinds that we don’t need,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who told us it’d be “hard” for him to support the reconciliation bill without language on the fund. “If we’ve got the acting AG saying it’s done, then let’s just stick a fork in it.”

But Thune and Barrasso want to defeat every amendment during today’s vote-a-rama while also giving their vulnerable senators the space to vote for some of them. The GOP pair hopes to keep the bill focused on its original intent and avoid moves that complicate its passage by House Republicans.

“Why add something that’s not part of the bill?” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told us. “We should just vote to table all of those amendments… I’m assuming our leadership has all of the wrinkles out of this thing.”

That remains to be seen. Many of the amendments will require 60 votes. As we scooped Wednesday night, the very first amendment from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will only require a simple majority, meaning it’ll need just four GOP “yes” votes. Schumer’s amendment will be a motion to commit — sending the bill back to committee — with instructions to eliminate the weaponization fund.

Republicans to watch include Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska).

FISA fight. Assuming Senate Republicans pass the reconciliation bill, Thune then wants to quickly move to the first procedural vote on a bipartisan bill to reauthorize FISA Section 702, which expires June 12.

As we scooped again, Democrats are threatening to block the compromise bill after Trump’s surprise appointment of Pulte as acting DNI. Pulte — the Federal Housing Finance Agency director — would be in charge of the 702 program as acting DNI, despite his lack of national security experience and MAGA warrior rep. Many Democrats want Pulte out before backing a FISA extension. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is echoing this threat.

Thune doesn’t technically need Democrats for the FISA procedural vote, which only requires a simple majority. Yet the problem is that there aren’t 51 Senate Republicans who would vote to reauthorize Section 702.

“I don’t think FISA’s going to be a cake walk,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said. “I’ve got to take a good, hard look at what they’ve done. I’m not sure I like the idea of extending it for three years.”

In order to clear the first hurdle, Thune and Barrasso will need to convince Republicans like Kennedy to support a procedural vote for legislation they’ll end up voting against, especially since Democrats aren’t likely to help.

— Andrew Desiderio and Laura Weiss

PUNCHBOWL NEWS IN CHICAGO: Join us on Tuesday, June 16, at 9 a.m. CT for a conversation with Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker. We’ll sit down with Pritzker to discuss the news of the day and digital well-being for kids and teenagers. Afterward, Kate Charlet, senior director of Privacy, Safety, and Security of the Government Affairs and Public Policy team at Google and Kati Morton, LMFT, licensed therapist and creator, will join for a fireside chat. RSVP to attend in-person or virtually!

HOUSE DEMS

Mamdani infuriates Congressional Hispanic Caucus

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s decision to endorse against Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat is threatening Mamdani’s relationships with influential Latinos on Capitol Hill.

Last week, Mamdani threw his support behind democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Justice Democrats-backed challenger. The endorsement sent shockwaves throughout the New York congressional delegation and the CHC.

It’s the latest controversial call Mamdani is making in contested House primaries, following his endorsements against retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s (D-N.Y.) preferred successor and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.).

“I think it’s outrageous,” Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) said of Mamdani’s endorsement against Espaillat.

Espaillat, who’s served in the House since 2017, is the first formerly undocumented immigrant in Congress. While Espaillat initially backed Andrew Cuomo in the mayoral race, Espaillat quickly endorsed Mamdani after he won the primary.

“I accepted his decision and we’re moving forward,” Espaillat said of Mamdani. “I’ve delivered, I’ve been there and we pulled our neighborhood up. After many years of serious problems, the neighborhood now is a special place for people to live in.”

CHC reacts. CHC members told us they were dismayed by Mamdani’s endorsement because they see Espaillat as an effective fighter against President Donald Trump.

— Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.): “It’s unfortunate. Adriano Espaillat has been an excellent representative of people in his district who fights hard for all the progressive issues that Mamdani has claimed support for.”

— Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.): “He’s endorsing against the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, who’s been leading the effort on fighting against the Trump administration’s attack on immigrants.”

— Vargas: “All of a sudden, here comes this new guy, Mamdani, and says, ‘You’re no good, you’re out. No one’s in favor of that, we’re all arguing, how the hell can this happen? Even people who supported [Mamdani] are pissed off.”

Remaining neutral. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a CHC member, said she was staying out of the race.

“I know here that the CHC is very supportive of the congressman’s leadership of the caucus, and you’ve got the local politics in New York,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Espaillat’s challenger — Avila Chevalier — told us that, as “a proud Afro-Latina organizer, and daughter of Dominican immigrants,” she would “be honored” to join the CHC if elected.

Jeffries. Mamdani refused to back Chi Ossé’s short-lived primary challenge to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. But it hasn’t stopped Mamdani from going after members of Jeffries’ caucus.

We asked Jeffries if Mamdani was miscalculating on his endorsements.

“I trust the voters to make the right decision in all of these different races,” Jeffries responded. “I, of course, will continue to aggressively support Congressman Espaillat and Congressman Dan Goldman.”

— Max Cohen and Ally Mutnick

FUNDING FIGHT

No topline deal in sight for Senate appropriations

Senate Appropriations Committee Republicans are trudging ahead next week with FY2027 funding markups — with or without Democrats.

After GOP appropriators scrapped the three markups planned for Thursday, they’re aiming to get back on track next week. This comes as Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and the panel’s ranking member Patty Murray (Wash.) remain billions of dollars apart on a topline figure for all 12 annual spending bills.

Both sides are digging in, which will make it challenging to reach a bipartisan agreement or avoid a continuing resolution by the Sept. 30 funding deadline.

It’s unclear whether Senate Democrats will support the appropriations bills during the markups without a topline number. President Donald Trump wants to boost defense spending to $1.5 trillion, but Democrats won’t go along with that without an increase in domestic spending.

“We do not have an agreement on the topline,” Murray said when asked if Democrats would support any of the bills heading for a markup.

Murray noted that she hasn’t agreed to the subcommittee allocations Collins has given out. Collins countered that she doesn’t need Murray’s approval. The lack of agreement, though, shows Democrats may not support the individual bills.

Collins told us it would be a “strange choice” if Democrats didn’t agree to the bills because they’ve been “fully involved drafting the subcommittee bills.” A Democratic committee aide rebuffed that assertion and said it’s unfortunate Republicans have decided to move forward without bipartisan agreement.

“I don’t think they really want to end up in a continuing resolution,” Collins said.

Pushing ahead. Senate Republican appropriators plan to try to markup the FY2027 Commerce-Justice-Science, Legislative Branch and Agriculture-FDA bills next week, according to multiple sources familiar with the schedule.

Those bills were originally on deck for markups on Thursday, but Collins postponed the meeting due to Republican concerns about Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund. Democrats were planning to push amendments regarding potential payouts to alleged victims of wrongful actions by the Justice Department. The administration now says it is abandoning the fund.

Senate appropriators could also markup the FY2027 Military Construction-VA and Interior-Environment bills next week. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), the author of the MilCon bill, said his markup is still on schedule.

Boozman said he’s been working on making a bipartisan bill, but he acknowledged that Democrats may not agree to any funding bills without a topline agreement. MilCon-VA is typically one of the least controversial and smallest appropriations bills.

“The question is, will they support any bill?” Boozman said.

Across the Capitol: House GOP appropriators held full committee markups on Wednesday of two FY2027 spending bills — Interior and THUD (Transportation, Housing and Urban Development). The bills passed on party-line votes. GOP appropriators will continue with subcommittee and full committee markups on Friday and next week, despite the lack of a spending deal.

— Samantha Handler and John Bresnahan

HOUSE MAP

DCCC names four Dems to Red to Blue

News: The DCCC added four new candidates to its Red to Blue program for top challengers.

Three of the candidates just won contested primaries: Denise Powell, a businesswoman who is running for retiring Rep. Don Bacon’s (R-Neb.) seat; Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot challenging Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.) and Marni von Wilpert, a San Diego city councilmember running for retiring Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) open seat.

A fourth candidate, Bale Dalton, remains in a crowded primary field vying to take on embattled Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.). Dalton served in the Navy as an aviator and, most recently, was the chief of staff at NASA. Florida’s primaries are not until August.

The DCCC drew scrutiny last month when it decided to wade into several crowded primaries to endorse its preferred contenders. In those cases, House Democratic leaders felt certain candidates were better positioned to flip the seats in November. This new round of endorsements is less controversial because most of them come after primary victories.

This is the third round of candidate additions to the Red to Blue program, bringing its total roster to 24. These candidates “will receive strategic guidance, staff resources, training, and fundraising support,” per the DCCC.

“This latest class of Red to Blue candidates are proven fighters and trusted public servants who put country over party,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement.

– Ally Mutnick

DOWNTOWN DOWNLOAD

Haynes to K&L Gates

News: Hayden Haynes, the outgoing chief of staff to Speaker Mike Johnson, is joining K&L Gates.

Haynes has been with Johnson for the speaker’s entire career in Congress.

K&L Gates, a Pittsburgh-based firm, boasts clients such as the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, ByteDance, BNSF Railway and Best Buy.

Kalshi staffs up. Dani Lever has joined Kalshi to lead strategic communications. Lever was a director of communications at Meta, where she worked on rapid response, crisis and risk mitigation. Lever will oversee corporate communications and public affairs at Kalshi.

Jacki McGavick has left the White House press shop to work in policy communication for Kalshi. She will be building out their rapid response operation.

— Jake Sherman

AND THERE’S MORE

Ad news: House Majority Forward, the HMP-aligned nonprofit, is launching a $1 million ad buy attacking Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) in Michigan’s toss-up 7th District. The ad features President Donald Trump saying he doesn’t consider Americans’ financial situation and claims Barrett is voting in lockstep with Trump.

AI cash. Build American AI, the advocacy arm of a super-PAC network tied to the artificial intelligence and venture capital firms, is rolling out support for five House Democrats: Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson (Miss.) and Reps. Brittany Pettersen (Colo.), Marilyn Strickland (Wash.), Salud Carbajal (Calif.) and Josh Harder (Calif.).

Josh Vlasto, who co-leads the network, known as Leading the Future, said the group is excited to “continue partnering with them over the long term, given their commitment to building a responsible national AI regulatory framework.”

Support could include paid campaigns to showcase lawmakers’ work on AI and how the group says it could benefit their districts.

Soccer watch: Republicans beat Democrats 7-5 in the Congressional Soccer Match. Look out for more coverage in the Readback this week!

— Max Cohen and Ben Brody