Ready for Trump’s Clawback List
This could be the day the White House gives Congress its long-talked-about $9.3 billion package of spending clawbacks from USAID, public broadcasting, and more.
Last week, OMB Director Russell Vought said a request to formally undo previous spending decisions would be transmitted either yesterday or today. Once the White House provides a list, the targeted funds will be on hold for 45 legislative days while Congress decides whether to say yes.
Speaking over the weekend on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Vought said the request would just be an appetizer. “It’s the first of many rescissions bills,” he said.
Jack Fitzpatrick has more details in today’s BGOV Budget Brief.
Fattier School Milk
The ability to say no to skinny milk in school cafeterias: A House committee already marked up a bill (H.R. 649) that would let federal dollars pay for whole milk in schools for the first time since the Obama administration, and this afternoon the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee plans to vote on its version (S. 222).
It’s a change the dairy industry has been seeking for years. “The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act is about making informed, science-backed decisions that prioritize the health and future of our children,” the National Milk Producers Federation said in a May statement.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a critic of the law that restricts the options under the federally-paid program offering free or discounted school lunches, calling it “antiquated,” Skye Witley reports.
For more on today’s action in committees and on the floor, check out Congress Tracker.
Trade War Update
The European Union is warning it may speed up retaliatory measures if President Donald Trump follows through on his threat to double the levy on steel and aluminum imports.
The European Commission, which handles trade matters for the EU, said the move is undermining efforts to reach a solution to the trade conflict. The EU’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, is to meet with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer tomorrow in Paris. Read More
China is flexing its control over the rare earth elements that are crucial for cutting-edge electronics — an important trade war battlefield. “The administration is actively monitoring China’s compliance with the Geneva trade agreement and President Trump will speak directly with President Xi very soon,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Read More
Trade talks with India seem to be progressing at a faster clip. “We’ve found a place that really works for both countries,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, suggesting an agreement could come before a July deadline for higher tariffs. Read More
In court, the states and small businesses that won a ruling that most of Trump’s global tariffs are illegal have now filed their reasoning for an immediate tariff pause, saying they’re suffering harm and shouldn’t have to wait for an appeals court decision.
The appellate process will likely continue for months, so a pause that long would be a win for the White House. Meanwhile, last week’s trade court ruling remains temporarily paused. Read More
Assault Weapons and Mail-In Ballots
Some new insight into the current Supreme Court’s view of gun ownership conflicts: In a case involving a law banning assault weapons, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the court should take up the issue in the next year or two after more lower courts have weighed in.
Add to that three unsuccessful votes to take up a case right away by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch. So when the time comes, two other Republican appointees — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett — probably will cast the deciding votes. Read More
Postmark Case: The Supreme Court agreed to take a case in which a member of Congress challenged his state’s vote-counting law because it allows for postmark delays.
Rep. Michael Bost (R-Ill.) and two Republican presidential elector nominees are arguing that federal statute sets Election Day and Illinois shouldn’t be allowed to extend it by accepting ballots that were postmarked on time but delivered late. The question for the justices is whether federal candidates like Bost have standing to sue. Read More
Not Just Generational Change
Sen. Richard Durbin’s retirement decision is setting up the possibility of more than just a successor from a younger Illinois generation, Greg Giroux reports.
In a state that tends to favor Democrats for statewide office, the top three Democratic primary candidates so far are people of color: Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Rep. Robin Kelly, who are Black, and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Indian-American born in New Delhi.
If Stratton or Kelly ends up winning next year, Illinois would become the first state to have two women of color serving in the Senate at the same time. Tammy Duckworth (D), an Asian-American woman, holds Illinois’s other Senate seat — the same one previously held by Barack Obama, the first Black president, and Carol Moseley Braun (D), the first Black woman to serve in the Senate. Read More
Before You Go
Opioid programs: Erin Durkin reports that House lawmakers are set to reauthorize programs to support substance abuse prevention and treatment, even though some of them are on the chopping block under the Trump administration’s budget request. Read More
Arizona and New Mexico border walls: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is waiving environmental reviews and other laws to expedite barriers along the US-Mexico border. Read More
Script flipped: Trump changed his mind about killing a $400 billion green-energy bank. Now he wants to use it to finance billions of dollars in loans for nuclear reactors, geothermal power, and critical minerals. Read More
Staff took this seriously: CBS News reports on FEMA staff being confused and bummed-out after their new boss, David Richardson, said during a daily briefing that he’d been unaware there’s a hurricane season. In response, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson described the episode as “meanspirited attempts to falsely frame a joke as policy.”
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Editor’s Note: Today’s edition corrected the attribution for Erin Durkin’s article about opioid programs.
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