The Senate just started a long weekend, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the White House are ratcheting up the pressure on rank-and-file GOP senators to pass a massive Republican reconciliation bill by the end of next week.
Senate aides are working through the weekend to plow through all the procedural steps necessary to meet that deadline.
The Senate Finance Committee is beginning its “Byrd Bath” process to litigate tax and health provisions with the Senate parliamentarian. This is to ensure compliance with the Byrd Rule, which governs the reconciliation process.
Democratic staffers are meeting with the parliamentarian’s office today. GOP aides will also have their own meetings. After that, full Byrd Bath arguments with GOP and Democratic staffers will start Sunday, according to sources briefed on the plans.
Democrats intend to challenge about 60 provisions in the Finance Committee text. That includes targeting Republicans’ plan to use the current policy baseline, which Democrats have panned as a gimmick designed to mask the true cost of the GOP package.
Thune, President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson all want this GOP reconciliation package to the president’s desk by July 4. Setting a hard deadline in the House helped Johnson and Trump force reluctant House Republicans into line last month, and Thune is hoping the same can happen in the Senate. Deadlines (and recesses) focus minds on Capitol Hill like nothing else.
But there are still significant obstacles to overcome on Medicaid spending cuts, SALT and repealing clean energy credits from the Inflation Reduction Act. The Republican margin of control in the House especially is razor thin, even with Trump battering holdouts. So we remain somewhat skeptical of Trump and GOP congressional leaders making that deadline.
Trump Campaign Inc. The latest sign of how dominant Trump’s grip on the GOP is? Republicans are racing to get a piece of his campaign team for the 2026 midterms.
Trump’s 2024 campaign turned his staffers into MAGA superstars, especially the top brass. Those who didn’t join Trump’s administration are still consulting and have become highly sought after.
Landing a Trump alum — especially Trump’s co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita or pollster Tony Fabrizio — gives any Republican the imprimatur of the MAGA movement. It’s particularly helpful for those worried about a primary challenge and anyone whose loyalty to Trump has been called into question.
For example, we scooped that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) secured several of Trump associates, including Fabrizio. Tillis is ripe for a primary and recently irked MAGAworld when he opposed Trump’s nominee to be U.S. attorney for D.C.
And then there’s Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is locked in a brutal primary with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn added Fabrizio to his campaign and LaCivita is working for a pro-Cornyn super PAC.
In Michigan, former Rep. Mike Rogers tapped LaCivita as he geared up for another Senate run in 2026.
These consultants are battle-tested and, most importantly, have Trump’s ear. That’s a huge benefit and in some cases it could even translate into a Trump endorsement — or neutrality in a given race.
But Trump’s former political aides are conscious of the optics. They often run potential new clients by the White House before formally committing to any candidate, according to people familiar with those conversations.
Dueling Trump ties. Dozens of Republicans have worked on one of Trump’s three presidential campaigns. It’s not hard for GOP candidates to find someone to add to their roster. Tillis, for instance, also hired Trump’s data consultant Tim Saler and Trump’s fundraising manager Jim McCray.
Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) snagged BrabenderCox, the firm that made Trump’s ads, as he weighs a Senate bid that would pit him against Rogers and LaCivita.
In Ohio’s governor race, Vivek Ramaswamy has help from Fabrizio, Chris Grant, a top strategist for the main pro-Trump super PAC, and Andy Surabian, a Don Trump Jr. consigliere. That team can only have helped Ramaswamy snag the coveted Trump endorsement. His top opponent, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, dropped out once Trump weighed in — despite having former Trump campaign official Justin Clark in his camp.
Of course, none of these hires are a guarantee of being in Trump’s good graces or electoral success. Cornyn has been trailing badly in recent polling, and it doesn’t seem as though Trump plans to wade into the Texas Senate GOP primary soon.
And Axios reported that LaCivita, Fabrizio and Grant all fled the campaign of Arizona governor hopeful Karrin Taylor Robson over strategic differences. Trump had backed Robson but later endorsed Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.).
This trend is really just the latest step in Trump’s transformation of the GOP campaign ecosystem. Successful Republican candidates cozy up to Trump, hold fundraisers on his properties, support his agenda plus everything he tweets or says, and now hire his former campaign team. This is all in the hope of getting the former president’s blessing or escaping his wrath.
