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In today’s issue:
- House GOP passes mammoth budget
- Two Israeli Embassy staffers killed in Washington
- Trump spars with South African president
- Intelligence narrative vs. Venezuelan deportations
The House early today delivered President Trump’s legacy-setting tax and spending legislation with a vote of 215 to 214 following feverish overnight deal-making leading up to a Memorial Day deadline.
Two Republicans voted against the measure and one GOP member voted present.
The legislation extends the tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, raises defense spending, cuts Medicaid spending and includes a $4 trillion increase in the nation’s borrowing authority. The House version and a pending Senate bill will differ, which means Trump and Congress face months of continued budget debate ahead.
To get to the finish line with House Republicans, Trump visited the Capitol this week, brought undecided members to the White House for some one-on-one persuasion and continued to champion passage of his agenda as “rocket fuel” for America’s “golden age.”
Partisan clashes leading into the midterm elections will focus on Trump policies and whether he and his party are making the poorest in America worse off while helping the wealthiest in the country and corporations through favorable tax benefits.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) struck progressive themes Wednesday outside the Capitol while applauding advocates who argue that the Medicaid changes embraced by the GOP will mean many current recipients will find themselves without health coverage by 2027. “Hands off our Medicaid,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) would like to avoid a revolt over Medicaid cuts as the upper chamber forges its own measure, reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.
The Hill: The House GOP legislation raises fears of major reductions in at-home care for seniors and the disabled under Medicaid.
Trump, alert to the economic optics, campaigned in 2024 for the elimination of taxes on tips and no taxes on Social Security benefits to appeal to his blue-collar base and to senior voters. What wound up in the House budget bill has been derided by Democrats as “bait and switch.” Overall, the U.S. accumulated debt is forecast under the GOP’s budget priorities to expand over a decade, a result viewed by fiscal hawks and many economists as unsustainable over the long term.
The New York Times: Newborns under the House bill could receive $1,000 in federal funds over the next four years through “Trump accounts” that would be invested in financial markets.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) spent weeks pressing his conference to back the mammoth budget legislation and made last-minute changes to the bill knowing that his narrow majority meant he could afford to lose no more than three Republican votes. About 12 hours before Thursday’s scheduled floor action, the Speaker — upbeat amid uncertain whip counts — told reporters, “We’re excited. I believe we are going to land this airplane.” Minutes before the final vote, Johnson called the Republican endeavor “truly nation-shaping and life-changing.”
Included among bill changes to appease GOP moderates is a hike from $10,000 to $40,000 in the cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction for individuals making $500,000 or less.
▪ The Hill: Here are key legislative changes made by House GOP leaders. Conservative hard-liners began to swing in favor of the legislation late Wednesday after receiving assurances from the president and the Speaker.
▪ The Hill: READ the “manager’s amendment” for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
▪ The Hill: To reach the legislative finish line, the House Rules Committee needed nearly 22 hours and an 8-4 procedural vote to move Trump’s budget bill to the floor. The House adopted the rule around 2:40 a.m. on a 217-212 vote.
▪ The Hill: The House early Thursday voted 216-212 to repeal a Biden-era rule that sought to curb toxic air pollution. Trump is expected to sign the measure.
MEANWHILE, SENATE REPUBLICANS on Wednesday defended the much-debated filibuster while voting to overturn a federal regulation and nix California’s vehicle emissions standards. Democrats argued the GOP set a new standard when it comes to the 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber.
RIP: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), 75, who recently announced he would not seek reelection, died Wednesday from esophageal cancer after serving in the House since his election in 2008. His colleagues held a moment of silence for him on the floor early Thursday. He stepped down last month as ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. In Fairfax, Va., and in the upper echelons of his party, admirers hailed his accomplishments.
SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN:
Questions continue to swirl around former President Biden’s health. I spoke with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, who is both a Democrat and a physician by trade. The governor told me he didn’t feel misled by Biden’s inner circle, but also says honesty is needed at this moment.
“I do think they did protect him, and obviously more than any of us realized,” Green told me. “Obviously the president’s decline was profound by the time he had that terrible debate.”
One thing that caught my attention as well was former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D), who is running for governor of California. He put out a statement asking what former Vice President Kamala Harris, who could jump into the gubernatorial race as well, knew about the former president’s health and why she didn’t say anything. If a Democrat trying to win a race is saying that now, it’s worth considering how many others might take that approach as well in the future.
Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.
3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:
▪ The killing of two Israeli Embassy aides outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday night has drawn global condemnations of antisemitism. (More on the shooting below)
▪ Trump’s tariffs and a global trade war continued to impact global markets Wednesday amid projections that pending U.S. budget legislation could raise deficits and accumulated U.S. debt.
▪ The departure of two top executives jolted journalists at CBS News while fueling speculation the network’s corporate parent, eager to win approval for a sale, is poised to settle rather than fight a high-profile lawsuit filed by Trump.
LEADING THE DAY
© Associated Press | Evan Vucci
SOUTH AFRICA: Trump, who hosted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a working visit on Wednesday at the White House, pulled his guest into an extended and at times tense debate about claims of “genocide” against white farmers in South Africa, playing a video in the Oval Office to support his allegations.
The otherwise cordial meeting began to devolve after a reporter asked Trump what it would take to convince him there is no genocide targeting white farmers, like the president and other allies have claimed. Ramaphosa jumped in to say it would take Trump listening to the voices and perspectives of native South Africans, including some who joined him on the U.S. trip. He acknowledged there was “criminality” in the country, but he noted that a majority of victims of crime in South Africa were Black.
The clash centered on Trump’s insistence on false claims of land seizures and mass killings of white Afrikaners, members of a white ethnic minority group who ruled during the country’s apartheid era. The U.S. recently granted refugee status to white South Africans under a humanitarian designation for people fleeing war or persecution that the Trump administration has suspended for other groups worldwide.
Trump held up news articles that he suggested were validation of his claims of genocide but later said he hadn’t decided whether what is occurring in South Africa should be declared as such.
“I haven’t made up my mind. I hate to see it from the standpoint of South Africa,” he said. “I’m trying to save lives, no matter where.”
The meeting is the second time a foreign leader has been put in clear unease by the U.S. president. While Ramaphosa kept his composure and the meeting did not go off the rails like the infamous February meeting in the Oval Office between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the South African president was clearly put on his heels by Trump’s tactics. The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels have five takeaways from the meeting.
▪ The Hill’s The Memo: What Ramaphosa’s Oval Office visit means for other foreign leaders eyeing sit-downs with Trump.
▪ The Hill: What to know about the “white genocide” claims in South Africa.
DEPORTED TO SOUTH SUDAN: The Trump administration’s deportations this week of eight people sent to war-torn South Sudan violated a federal court order, a judge ruled Wednesday. District Court Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts said during a hearing that the Trump administration had failed to adhere to his injunction, issued in March, preventing individuals from being sent to a country other than their own without giving them an opportunity to raise fears of persecution or torture. Government attorneys said the migrants, described by the administration as violent criminals, are still in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on the ground in a plane they boarded. The lawyers declined to share the location of the plane’s final destination. The judge, who relayed publicly the sequence of events leading to the deportations, said the individuals were notified of their destination “sometime in the evening” on Monday, outside business hours.
▪ The Guardian: U.S. deportations cast a spotlight on South Sudan’s deepening political crisis.
▪ The Associated Press: South Sudan is once again in danger of collapsing into civil war.
QATAR’S “BRIBE” IN PLANE SIGHT? Senate Republicans blocked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) effort to scuttle U.S. acceptance of a luxury foreign aircraft the Pentagon on Wednesday said can be overhauled to eventually serve as Air Force One for Trump. The Justice Department previously approved receipt of the Boeing 747 jetliner as a gift to the United States, a move Schumer said is akin to “bribery” in plain sight. The aircraft is in the U.S.
WHERE AND WHEN
- The House launched its floor debate of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at 2:54 a.m.
- The Senate will convene at 10 a.m.
- The president will receive his intelligence briefing at 11 a.m. He will have lunch with Vice President Vance at 12:30 p.m. He will participate in a Make America Healthy Again Commission event at 3:45 p.m. Trump will depart the White House at 6:40 p.m. to headline a private dinner at Trump National Golf Club located in Virginia.
ZOOM IN
© Associated Press | Rod Lamkey, Jr.
ISRAELI EMBASSY: Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram, two Israeli Embassy aides, were shot and killed outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday night. Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., said they were a couple on a night out.
A suspect shouted “Free, free Palestine” while in police custody and “implied” that he committed the shooting, said Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith. He was identified as Elias Rodriguez, in his early 30s, of Chicago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to the victims, saying, “My heart grieves for the families of the young beloveds, whose lives were cut short in a moment by an abhorrent antisemitic murderer.”
Trump condemned the violence on Truth Social, writing, “These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA. Condolences to the families of the victims. So sad that such things as this can happen!”
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media that she was “on the scene of the horrible shooting outside the Washington, D.C. Capital Jewish Museum,” with Jeanine Pirro, the interim U.S. attorney for Washington.
GAZA: Israel has likely killed Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, Netanyahu said Wednesday as Israel continues to expand its air and ground incursion into Gaza. Sinwar is the current head of the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. He took over from his brother, Yahya Sinwar, in October 2024 after his brother was killed by Israeli forces.
“We eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists,” Netanyahu said. “We eliminated the leaders of the murderers Deif, Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and it appears we also eliminated Mohammed Sinwar.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli military fired warning shots at a large delegation of European and Arab diplomats on an official visit near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, drawing swift international condemnation. Delegations from more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others, were on an official mission to see the humanitarian situation around the besieged camp.
“The delegation deviated from the approved route and entered an area where they were not authorized to be,” the Israeli military said in a statement Wednesday. “[Israeli] soldiers operating in the area fired warning shots to distance them away.”
▪ The New York Times: Three days after Israel said it would relax its blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza, little, if any, of the urgently needed food, fuel and medicine appeared to have reached Palestinians.
▪ NPR: Mike Huckabee, the new U.S. ambassador to Israel, said he is “outraged” at the leaders of Britain, France and Canada for condemning Israel’s new military offensive in Gaza.
UKRAINE: Without waiting for Washington, the European Union and Britain announced a new raft of sanctions against Russia, less than 24 hours after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged a friendly phone call about ending the war in Ukraine that failed to move the needle toward peace. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on the social platform X that it was “time to intensify the pressure on Russia to bring about the ceasefire.”
▪ The Washington Post: Could Pope Leo XIV mediate between Russia and Ukraine? Trump thinks so.
▪ The New York Times: Russia’s intelligence services turned Brazil into an assembly line for deep-cover operatives. A team of federal agents on the ground has been quietly dismantling it.
▪ CNN: Former Ukrainian politician Andriy Portnov, who worked as a senior aide to pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych, was shot dead outside a school near Madrid.
▪ The Hill: China said it is “gravely concerned” by Trump’s plan for the U.S. to build a multibillion-dollar Golden Dome missile defense shield and is encouraging Washington to halt its development.
ELSEWHERE
© Associated Press | Jose Luis Magana
MANIPULATED INTELLIGENCE? Joe Kent, chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, sent an email to analysts seeking changes to a Feb. 26 intelligence assessment after it contradicted claims by Trump and Gabbard that Venezuela’s government controlled a criminal gang, Tren de Aragua, The New York Times reports. The assertion by Trump is at the heart of the administration’s argument to use executive authority to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants on the basis of a contemporary legal interpretation of the 1798 wartime Alien Enemies Act. Kent is the president’s nominee to lead the National Counterterrorism Center.
The U.S. intelligence community believes the gang is not controlled by the government of Venezuela and is not committing crimes in this country at Venezuela’s direction, according to the two assessments by the National Intelligence Council. Trump’s actions under the Alien Enemies Act have been challenged in court.
2028? Donald Trump Jr. on Wednesday said “that calling is there” when asked in Qatar about running for president.
“So the answer is I don’t know, maybe one day. You know, that calling is there. I’ll always be very active in terms of being a vocal proponent of these things. I think my father has truly changed the Republican Party,” he said, speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum.
SUPREME COURT: Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson may be the Supreme Court’s most junior justice, but on the bench, she’s the most vocal. In The Hill’s The Gavel, Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee break down Jackson’s style. The justice has set herself apart in other ways recently too, including notably by being the lone liberal justice to publicly dissent over an order this week allowing the Trump administration to strip Venezuelans of protections against deportation.
▪ The Hill: The White House may soon release a highly anticipated report about in vitro fertilization (IVF) and infertility that could make sweeping recommendations on making the procedure more accessible.
▪ The Hill: Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) filed a Wednesday resolution to expel Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) over pending federal charges related to a scuffle involving lawmakers, protesters and ICE officers outside a migrant detention facility in New Jersey.
OPINION
■ Congress is whistling past the downgrade, by The Washington Post editorial board.
■ A South African grift lands in the Oval Office, by Richard Poplak, guest essayist, The New York Times.
THE CLOSER
© Associated Press | Carlos Osorio
Take Our Morning Report Quiz
And finally … 🕕It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Inspired by marathon markup sessions, we’re eager for some smart guesses about lengthy talking and tenures in Congress.
Be sure to email your responses to asimendinger@thehill.com and kkarisch@thehill.com — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.
How long did last week’s House Energy and Commerce Committee markup session for the “one big, beautiful” budget bill last?
- 12 hours
- 24 hours
- 27 hours
- 5 hours
The longest 20th century lame-duck session of Congress, starting in November 1940, spanned how many days?
- 58
- 48
- 33
- 25
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) broke the record for longest filibuster this year. For how long did he speak?
- 24 hours and 18 minutes
- 26 hours and 26 minutes
- 25 hours and 5 minutes
- 14 hours and 13 minutes
The late Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) holds the record for longest tenure in Congress. How many years did he serve in the House?
- 48
- 59
- 50
- 55
Stay Engaged
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