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IN THIS EDITION

The Senate – A look at how Thune and Schumer are doing

Energy and Commerce schedules high-stakes reconciliation markup

Tech shells out for K Street assist on tax and trade

RFA picks up former McConnell staffer

THE TOP

The Senate – A look at how Thune and Schumer are doing

Happy Thursday morning.

This morning we’ll feature our regular series “Leader Look.” We’re focusing on Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer today. Tomorrow is Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: Schumer has undergone one of his toughest periods as Democratic leader since taking over the job in 2017. Schumer was hammered by progressives for allowing passage of the long-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government in mid-March. His standing on the left has been severely damaged, and it may never fully recover.

There was no chance that Schumer and Senate Democrats were ever going to vote for a shutdown. But Schumer at one point gave mixed signals on whether he’d seek to filibuster the CR.

Schumer then caused an uproar when he said just a day later that Senate Democrats wouldn’t allow a shutdown. Jeffries and House Democratic leaders made clear their opposition to the move – without naming Schumer – while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) openly bashed him.

We warned you where Schumer would come down on the issue. However, progressives upset over November’s stunning election defeats had convinced themselves that a government shutdown was the best way to counter President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE, and an ascendant GOP.

Following his decision on the CR, there were some calls to replace Schumer as Democratic leader or primary him in 2028. He went on MSNBC and ran a NYT op-ed to justify the move, arguing that as party leader, he had to take the heat on this one. It didn’t mollify his critics.

Schumer, though, remains firmly in charge of his caucus, and 2028 is a long, long way off. It’s a virtual lifetime in politics. Ask Trump.

We’ll note that Schumer was helped immensely by SignalGate, the internal GOP budget resolution fight and the economic shock of Trump’s trade war. The chaos coming from the Trump administration took the focus off Schumer, and he had a couple of solid weeks heading into the Easter recess.

Schumer is spending the break appearing in Republican-held House districts back home, hammering Trump on Medicaid and tariffs (a huge issue in upstate New York). He’s moved to block two Trump nominees for key U.S. attorney posts in New York.

Senate Democrats are prepping for clashes over tax cuts, the debt limit, government funding and more. The fallout over Trump’s trade war may become the dominant issue of 2026 if the U.S. economy tips into a recession. Schumer will find much firmer political footing there.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune. As House GOP leaders were whipping votes for the budget resolution last week, it became clear that they needed Thune’s help to convince the House Freedom Caucus that Senate Republicans were serious about spending cuts.

But Thune knew that any commitment he made on this could come back to haunt him given how many GOP senators have drawn red lines on Medicaid cuts.

So Thune didn’t make that promise. Instead, Thune said he’ll try his best. That ended up being enough. Thune didn’t lose any of his leverage. He gave up nothing. Afterward, in a brief chat with us, he doubled down, underscoring the likelihood that House Republicans could get rolled on a final reconciliation bill due to Senate constraints.

There were a lot of doubts about whether the Midwestern-nice Thune could ever have an effective working relationship with Trump, especially given their history. But so far, Thune has proven he can keep Trump at bay while also using the president to his advantage when needed. The two regularly talk and text, and Thune is constantly in touch with senior White House aides.

That doesn’t mean Thune hasn’t had his disagreements with Trump, although he’s kept those mostly private. And while Thune got Trump’s Cabinet confirmed in record time, some of those officials — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — have either contravened commitments made during their confirmation hearings or thumbed their noses at longtime Senate GOP priorities.

Still, the GOP leadership team’s track record on the floor is nearly perfect. Thune is a former whip. Majority Whip John Barrasso has won plaudits as well for helping wrangle votes for Trump’s Cabinet.

Thune has also shown he’s willing to play hardball with Democrats even if it means forcing uncomfortable vote times or — gasp! — Friday or weekend sessions.

The one vote Thune lost was on a privileged resolution to overturn Trump’s initial tariffs on Canada. Whenever we ask Thune about tariffs, the South Dakota Republican reminds us that his views on across-the-board tariffs are well known. Translation: He doesn’t like them. And he‘s clearly uncomfortable defending Trump’s moves.

Despite that, Thune worked to defeat the disapproval resolution so as to not undermine Trump. Thune knew it would be a bad look for the Senate, with the help of Republicans, to rebuke Trump on that high-profile issue.

The vote, a loss for the GOP leadership, was more of a symbolic setback. But it was also a reminder for Thune that keeping 50-plus Republicans together isn’t a given. He’ll need that mindset for the upcoming reconciliation wars.

— John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio

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THE HOUSE

Energy and Commerce schedules high-stakes reconciliation markup

News: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is targeting May 7 for a markup of its portion of the Republican reconciliation package, according to sources familiar with the planning.

Energy and Commerce, chaired by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), is instructed to find $880 billion in savings from its areas of jurisdiction, which includes Medicaid. Several moderate House Republicans wrote a letter to Guthrie and House GOP leadership this week vowing to oppose steep cuts to Medicaid.

Other items in E&C’s sights include spectrum sales, rolling back electric vehicle mandates and pharmacy benefit manager reform.

The big picture: The GOP leadership has an ambitious timeline for House committees to take up their portions of the reconciliation package. The leadership wants many of the committees involved in the bill to hold markups during the first week after recess.

That includes the panels tasked with new spending on border security and defense: the Judiciary, Homeland Security and Armed Services committees. Other committees with relatively easy policy decisions would go then too.

Several panels that have a bigger lift are being given more time, including E&C, the Ways and Means Committee and the Agriculture Committee. But Republican leaders want those markups to happen the week of May 5.

Still, Ways and Means, which has a massive job in assembling the GOP’s tax package, is most likely expected to mark up later in May, people familiar with the schedule told us.

The GOP leadership is trying to keep momentum going to force the reconciliation bill to the finish line, a strategy that’s worked well so far.

But moving this quickly to markups could leave more time for blowback to politically sensitive pieces of the bill if it doesn’t pass quickly in both chambers. That could be especially challenging when it comes to spending cuts for Medicaid and SNAP; and any revenue raisers in the tax bill.

The vastly different instructions for House and Senate committees in the budget resolution are also a challenge for panels in writing their portions of the bill this quickly.

— Samantha Handler, Laura Weiss and Jake Sherman

Tech shells out for K Street assist on tax and trade

The tech world is shoring up its tax and trade lobbying as tariffs and reconciliation take center stage in Washington.

Tech companies and their trade associations have expanded their legion of lobbyists on Capitol Hill over recent weeks with hires focused on those key policy arenas, according to our review of lobbying disclosure reports.

This comes as President Donald Trump’s tariffs rock the tech world and roil markets. Meanwhile, Republicans’ push to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts presents an opening for the tech world.

What caught our eye:

— Semiconductor and chip makers staffed up: Nvidia signed up to lobby on “trade and export control measures” amid anxiety about the Trump administration barring exports to China. Micron Technology, which is based in Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo’s home state of Idaho, brought on Bellwether Government Affairs for tax and trade lobbying.

Marvell Technology tapped Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck for tax lobbying. Intel hired S-3 Group for lobbying on tax and trade, including chips issues and R&D incentives, which Republicans want to revive in the tax bill.

— Telecom giants also made moves: Verizon hired Alpine Advisors to work on tariffs and U.S. “supply chain matters affecting telecommunications equipment.”

The heightened duties have worried much of the telecom world as so many of its products, including routers, modems and antennas, are imported. T-Mobile signed Intersect Public Affairs for tax lobbying.

— The ​Information Technology Industry Council, which represents Big Tech, tapped Fierce Government Relations to lobby on issues including extending the 2017 tax cuts and “trade and export controls.”

— Google brought on Akin for tax lobbying, including issues related to international taxes, “foreign-derived intangible income permanency” and full, upfront deductions for R&D expenses. Those are all items expiring or already lapsed from the 2017 tax cuts.

— CGCN Group, the all-Republican lobbying shop, picked up online marketplace eBay and software company Cisco Systems for tax and trade lobbying.

— HP, a massive producer of laptops and printers, brought on Forward Global to work on tariff and trade issues. The vast majority of HP’s electronics are imported, especially from China.

– Diego Areas Munhoz and Laura Weiss

K STREET MOVES

RFA picks up former McConnell staffer

First in Punchbowl News: Steve Donaldson, a long-time aide to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is heading to K Street.

Donaldson is joining Rich Feuer Anderson, the lobbying firm focused on financial services, energy and tax.

RFA’s client list spans some heavy hitters in the business world, especially from the banking sector. It includes JPMorgan Chase, American Express, Amazon, Coinbase and the American Bankers Association.

Donaldson was formerly a senior adviser and counsel to McConnell during his tenure as the Senate Republican leader. During his eight years working for McConnell, Donaldson’s portfolio included regulatory reform, labor and employment policy, AI and supply chain issues. He also specialized in Senate rules.

In a floor speech last fall, McConnell praised Donaldson’s work on the 2020 Covid relief law, the Cares Act, and called him the team’s “resident whiz on the nuances of employment law.”

Before joining the Senate leadership team, Donaldson worked on the Hill for former Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) and on former Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) presidential campaign. Donaldson also did a stint at the law firm Holtzman Vogel.

— Laura Weiss

… AND THERE’S MORE

Texas and Louisiana oil and gas companies are pressing members of both states’ delegations in Congress not to crack down on “carried interest,” a form of pay for private equity and investment fund managers.

President Donald Trump wants to scrap the special tax treatment for carried interest, a cause he also pushed Congress to deliver on in 2017.

Oil and gas are good allies for investment firms to have in the carried interest fight. And both Texas and Louisiana have members who sit on the tax-writing committees. Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise are, of course, from Louisiana too.

Here are the letters from the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association and EnCap Investments, a Texas private equity firm that invests in independent energy companies.

— Laura Weiss

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