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Hello, friends. Welcome back to another hectic week (weekend?) on Capitol Hill.
Washington, D.C., has been surviving (not thriving) through a heat wave this week, and your author has not been stoked about it. Meanwhile, things are heating up inside the halls of Congress as Republicans are just one week away from their big, beautiful deadline.
Will they make it? Let’s dig into what the state of play is as of right now.
— Cami Mondeaux
The Big Idea
Thomas Massie: The Republican thorn in Trump’s side
Despite having control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, Republicans are still running into roadblocks that are slowing down their agenda.
And one of those obstacles is within their own GOP ranks.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has quickly established himself as the contrarian of the Republican Party, voting “no” on several GOP-led bills crucial to President Donald Trump’s agenda — no matter how much pressure is applied to him. It’s caused quite a stir among Republican leadership, and Trump has made how he feels about it quite clear.
“Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is,” Trump said in a lengthy (328 words!) post on Truth Social. “Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him. He is a negative force who almost always Votes ‘NO,’ no matter how good something may be.”
But here’s where it gets even more interesting: Trump is threatening to campaign against Massie when he’s up for reelection next year.
“The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I’ll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard,” he said in the post.
Let’s zoom out real quick to wholly understand what’s going on here.
Massie has voted down four critical bills so far this year: the first two budget resolutions greenlighting the process to draft Trump’s tax package; a stopgap measure to avoid a government shutdown in March; and the final vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Then, Massie led a resolution seeking to block Trump from greenlighting any military action in Iran — an effort he only agreed to temporarily back off on after Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire earlier this week.
To top it all off, Massie has already said he’ll vote no on the final version of Trump’s tax bill no matter what, so you can imagine how GOP leaders feel about that. (AKA: frustrated.)
To underscore just how big that frustration is, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was at a loss for words when asked about this week.
When asked if Johnson would defend Massie in the case of a primary challenge, Johnson told reporters: “That’s the hardest question I have this morning, I’m gonna be totally honest with you.”
As speaker, it is Johnson’s job to defend his slim House majority. And that means, in Johnson’s own words, he “leads the incumbent protection program.”
So when it comes to protecting an incumbent that seems to oppose the party every chance he gets, is it easier for Johnson to just usher in someone else already vetted by Trump himself? Johnson’s going to leave that problem for another day.
“I certainly understand the president’s frustration,” Johnson said. “I can’t quite understand what the rationale is. But if you’re here and you’re wearing one team’s jersey, and every single time you vote with the other team, people begin to question what your motive is and what your philosophy is and why you’re so consistently opposed to the platform, the agenda of your party. So I’ll leave it at that.”
Meanwhile, Massie doesn’t seem that worried.
After all, he has survived high-profile primary challenges before — easily defeating GOP competitors in the last three election cycles. And Massie is betting Trump won’t want to wade into a fight he may not win.
“In 2020 I got my Trump antibodies from a natural infection when he came after me, and I survived,” Massie told reporters on Tuesday. “It will deplete his political capital if he doesn’t succeed, and he knows that. So that’s got to be part of his calculus.”
But it appears Trump and his allies will try, anyway. In fact, the president launched a new political action committee this week aimed toward unseating Massie — setting the stage for what could be a major political battle next year.
— Cami Mondeaux
Stories driving the week
- Public land sales on the rocks: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, submitted a new version of his public lands proposal after the Senate parliamentarian ruled earlier this week the provision to sell between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of federally owned land does not comply with the strict rules laid out in the reconciliation process.
- In and out of war: Iran carried out strikes against a number of U.S. military bases in the Middle East in retaliation of a U.S.-led strike against Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. Iran and Israel have since agreed to a ceasefire, but there are disputes about whether the initial strikes truly destroyed the nuclear sites. Read more here from my colleague Lauren Irwin.
- SCOTUS rules on Planned Parenthood: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over an order that prohibits Medicaid funding from being used at clinics that provide abortions. What does that mean for Utah? My colleague Brigham Tomco has more details.
Senate readies to jam the Senate — but House Republicans say ‘not so fast’
As of publication time, we are still awaiting the final text of the Senate’s reconciliation package. But Republican leaders are adamant to meet their self-imposed deadline of July 4.
Why the Fourth of July? Not really any specific reason except that GOP leaders set that date several months ago, and there’s nothing lawmakers love more than racing to the finish. But the Senate is falling behind on finalizing its text — especially after some of their key provisions were axed by the Senate parliamentarian.
Senate leaders outlined a plan earlier this week that they hope to vote on their finalized package sometime this weekend. After that? They’ll leave town and effectively “jam” the House — meaning, they’ll basically force the House to accept their version without any changes so they can meet their July 4 deadline.
This tactic has historically worked. But this time around, some fiscal conservatives in the House are warning that they are not here to play.
“Jam me, I go ‘It won’t pass,’” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., one of the key holdouts on the House side, told me on Wednesday. “If they do that, we’re not gonna swallow.”
Norman is just one of several members of the House Freedom Caucus who have publicly criticized Senate changes to the House-passed reconciliation bill, arguing they have undone crucial provisions they say are necessary to reduce the deficit.
Now to be clear, House Republicans are fine with trying to meet the July 4 deadline. But they’ve vowed not to do so if it means holding their nose and voting on a package that doesn’t contain their top priorities.
“We certainly would be more than happy to pass the bill to meet the July 4 deadline but not if it means that we violate the House budget framework — and the current version of the Senate bill doesn’t come close to adhering to the budget framework,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., tells me.
But some Republicans in the Senate are fine to extend the timeline, even if that means missing their holiday deadline.
“This is an arbitrary deadline,” Sen. Ron Johnson, another key holdout, told reporters on Thursday. “But it’s been set to make sure that we do all the hard work, and we’re trying to do it.”
What does Trump say? Bring me the bill.
Trump gave lawmakers their marching orders earlier this week, telling Congress to stay in session until the job is complete.
“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. “Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that message on Thursday morning, telling reporters the expectation is to have the bill “on the president’s desk for signature by July 4.”
So, we’ll see. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting to see if I should cancel my weekend plans.
— Cami Mondeaux
Quick hits
From the Hill: Sen. Mike Lee wants NATO to report financial contributions. … Sen. Chuck Schumer hospitalized for dehydration. … Key Mike Lee proposal stripped from Trump budget bill.
From the White House: Trump administration repeals Clinton-era rule in effort to reduce wildfires. … Trump announces ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran. … Why Trump’s labor secretary says it’s ‘America First’ to expand the migrant workforce.
From the courts: Supreme Court limits appeals window for immigrants facing torture abroad. … SCOTUS rules fuel producers can sue EPA over ‘harming’ regulations. … MIT sued over complaints of antisemitism on campus.
What’s next
The Senate could be in session throughout the weekend to get Trump’s big, beautiful bill across the finish line.
The House could be called back next week if that happens. Congress is scheduled to go on recess for the July Fourth holiday, but all plans are up in the air until the Senate makes a move.
As always, feel free to reach out to me by email with story ideas or questions you have for lawmakers. And follow me on X for breaking news and timely developments from the Hill.