Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Newsom v. Trump

Newsom v. Trump

Jun 12, 2025

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With help from Eli Okun and Bethany Irvine

On this morning’s podcast, Jack and Dasha discuss the dangers of late-night theater, the art of the 3 a.m. apology and why — once again — Democrats are turning to the courts to try to stop Trump.

Good Thursday morning. This is Jack Blanchard, a little bittersweet today with “God Only Knows” still spinning around my head. R.I.P.

LAST NIGHT AT THE THEATER: President Donald Trump got a decidedly mixed reception last night as he attended the opening night of “Les Misérables” at the Kennedy Center, my POLITICO colleague Megan Messerly reports from the Opera House. Her iPhone vid from inside the theater suggests the president and first lady Melania got off pretty lightly compared to VP JD Vance the other month, with plenty of cheers for Trump and chants of “U.S.A.” But there were boos as well, plus a procession of audience members who dressed in drag — and a yell of “Viva Los Angeles” when Trump stood up at the break.

ALSO SPOTTED at the Kennedy Center: It was a true MAGA world sing-a-long, with Laura Loomer in the front row, plus Vance and wife Usha, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cheryl Hines, AG Pam Bondi, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Caroline Wren, Corey Lewandowski, Sergio Gor, Alexandra Preate, Ryan Coyne, Jeff Miller, Brian Baker, Richard Grenell, Aaron Schock, Garrett Ventry, Tony Sayegh, Kellyanne Conway and Maria Bartiromo.

First in Playbook — further reading: Grab yourself a coffee and read Megan’s deep dive on how the MAGA movement fell in love with “Les Mis.” “It’s very populist. It appeals to our sensibilities in that regard,” explains one Trump ally who’s also a musical theater fan. “But,” the person acknowledged, “also, it’s crazy radical lefties — or at least that’s implied in the musical. So that’s not us.”

NOW — BIG NEWS FROM POLITICO: Carrie Budoff Brown, a POLITICO founder, is returning to the publication after an accomplished four-year run at NBC News and will take the helm in Brussels as executive editor and executive vice president this fall.

Carrie first joined POLITICO as a brilliant and ambitious reporter before we had published a word back in 2007. She went on to play a critical role as part of the team who launched the publication in Brussels and then returned to Washington to run our North American newsroom. As John Harris wrote in a note to staff this morning, Carrie loves breaking news, she loves it when we are smartest and loves building winning teams. “That fire will be immediately felt in our newsroom — and in every newsroom seeking to compete against us,” he continued.

Carrie will report to Kate Day, our senior executive editor running POLITICO’s coverage across Europe. She will also have a dual report to CEO Goli Sheikholeslami, as a partner ensuring the publication in Brussels develops strongly as we grow.

We can’t wait to welcome her back to Brussels this fall.

In today’s Playbook …

— It’s Newsom v. Trump on the docket as California tries to force the troops off its streets.

— But the attacks just keep on coming as Trump prepares to nix Californian EV laws.

— Members of Congress picnic with Trump as he preaches unity over GOP spending plans.

DRIVING THE DAY

President Donald Trump talks with California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump will face off in court today as their administrations continue to spar over the deployment of troops in Los Angeles. | Mark Schiefelbein/AP

DAY IN COURT: Trump and Gavin Newsom’s warring administrations go head-to-head in court today as the president’s use of troops in Los Angeles meets its first legal test. The California governor wants judges to block what he claims is the illegal deployment of the National Guard in supporting ICE raids across his state. Trump administration lawyers are pushing back hard, dismissing Newsom’s lawsuit as a “crass political stunt.” It’s shaping up to be yet another seismic courtroom battle over the power of the executive, one of the central themes of Trump 2.0.

Don’t stop watching: The protests in LA may have calmed since the headline-grabbing, Waymo-torching chaos of Sunday afternoon, but this focus on Trump’s military backup for ICE is just as big a deal. In an interview with the AP, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman — who’s overseeing the deployment of troops in California — said about 500 National Guard have now been trained to support ICE agents, and that more could follow. Hundreds of U.S. Marines could join them in the coming days. And he did not rule out joint operations continuing once the protests are over.

Which means today’s hearing is a pretty big moment, given U.S. troops being regularly deployed on immigration raids in American cities would be a significant shift. Other so-called sanctuary cities are watching closely to see how it all plays out.

Meet the judge: Senior District Judge Charles Breyer — a Bill Clinton appointee, and the 83-year-old kid brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer — will hear arguments at 4:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. PT) in San Francisco. And those who enjoy trying to read the judicial runes should note there’s something for everyone in Breyer’s record, per POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein.

On the one hand … As a former Watergate prosecutor, Breyer has discussed the importance of holding presidents to account. “The Constitution was set up … to allow an examination of the way our government operates,” he has said. Equally, recalling his time as a Bay Area attorney during the civil unrest of the 1960s, he stressed the importance of shutting out human sympathies and pressing ahead with the job in hand. “There were riots,” he recalled. “You did your task.”

All gone quiet: The streets of LA were again pretty quiet last night, with the downtown curfew still in place. Newsom’s clickbait-friendly social media operation sought to take advantage with some high-level trolling of the Trump administration, reposting videos of jovial protesters dancing in the sunshine, and of bored LAPD cops in riot gear eating McDonald’s. “PETE, SEND THE MARINES!” teased Newsom’s team. It’s certainly a striking change from your average Dem fare, and it’s doing him no harm at all.

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While we’re doing California kremlinology … The battles of the past week have certainly not dissuaded Kamala Harris from a possible bid for state governor, my POLITICO colleague Melanie Mason scoops this morning. “If she was worried that her becoming governor might put a bigger target on California, the last week took that question off the table,” one Harris supporter says. “We’ve got a helluva target on us no matter who the governor is.” Harris tried to call Newsom this week, Melanie reports … but only made it through to voicemail. Ouch.

Back to the protests: What’s clear is that a sizable protest movement is now growing across (urban) America, as scenes over the past couple days in New York, Austin and Chicago have shown. In Seattle, protesters were arrested last night after a tense standoff outside federal buildings. And the city of Spokane, Washington, declared a curfew after 30 protesters were arrested, CNN reports. Those interested in tracking the resistance can watch three leaders of states with sanctuary policies — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul — duke it out with Republicans on the House Oversight Committee at 10 a.m.

Warning shot: Giving his own testimony on the Hill yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned the Pentagon is ready to surge troops to more cities “if there are other riots in places where law enforcement officers are threatened.” WaPo writes this would represent “the most extensive use of military force on American soil in modern history,” which is a heck of a line. Hegseth is back before the House Armed Services Committee at 10 a.m.

All of which makes for quite the buildup to this coming Saturday, when we’re going to see an extraordinary split-screen moment playing out on TV. In D.C., thousands of troops will parade through the streets past a saluting president who’s now shown he is more than ready to pit them against American protesters if he deems it necessary. … And at the exact same time, in an estimated 1,500 towns and cities across America, major coordinated anti-Trump protests will be underway under the “No Kings” banner. As a visual representation of a divided nation, you’ll struggle to beat it.

Speaking of powerful imagery: Organizers had planned the D.C. parade late in the day to spare the soldiers the worst of the summer heat. But that decision could backfire if the predictions of the Capital Weather Gang are correct, with thunderstorms forecast for the late afternoon on Saturday. Truly, the pictures will be something else.

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DOWN TO A SCIENCE

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS: Trump will fire a fresh salvo at California from the White House this morning when he signs three resolutions blocking the state’s flagship vehicle emissions standards. Never before has Congress used the Congressional Review Act to unwind approvals like these, and Sacramento has already promised to sue. The change comes on top of this week’s EPA rollback of power plant regulations, and just as the Republicans’ reconciliation bill prepares to kill off Biden-era clean-energy tax credits.

It all adds up to a striking reality that has gotten a little lost in the whirlwind of Trump’s second term: The federal government is essentially giving up on fighting climate change, as POLITICO’s Zack Colman and colleagues report.

The view from the administration: The EPA insisted yesterday’s power-plant rollback wouldn’t significantly contribute to climate change — even as Administrator Lee Zeldin said the climate campaign was a “cult” — but would unleash domestic industry and energy development. In response, AP’s Seth Borenstein surveyed a bunch of scientists about the EPA’s claims on plant emissions: Every one said they were false.

VAX NOT: It’s not just on climate change that MAGA’s biggest policy moves are rolling back decades of scientific orthodoxy. On top of the sweeping cuts to NIH research-related administrative funding, and the targeting of federal grants to top universities, comes Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stewardship of HHS. The longtime anti-vaccine activist said his purging of an entire vaccine advisory panel this week would pave the way for “gold-standard science” and help strengthen trust in vaccines. But the NYT reports partisan politics also played a role.

The latest picks: Kennedy last night announced eight new members of the panel, and some experts told NYT’s Sheryl Gay Stolberg that half were doctors and vaccine experts with solid credentials. The other four, however, are more in the mold of anti-vax contrarians, including Robert Malone, who got big in right-wing media during the pandemic.

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MEANWHILE ON THE HILL

LIFE’S NO PICNIC: Trump will host members of Congress on the South Lawn at 7 p.m. for the annual congressional picnic, where he will urge Republican unity on the GOP’s megabill. Ahead of that, Trump will meet with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to discuss the package in detail. But in a sign of just how tense — and petty — the negotiations have become, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he and his family had been uninvited from the picnic for opposing the bill, per CNN. “The level of immaturity is beyond words,” shrugged Paul.

And it’s not just rescinding invites: Even as Paul plans to release bill text today from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee he chairs, Senate GOP leaders aren’t happy with his paring back of border spending. So they’ll leapfrog the fiscal hawk completely, with alternative text from Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and colleagues report. Oof.

The latest jockeying: Crapo told Republicans he’ll make business tax breaks permanent while pulling back on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, per POLITICO’s Benjamin Guggenheim and Jordain. … Some senators are now eyeing a $30,000 SALT cap, Bloomberg’s Erik Wasson reports. … And some want to pare back Trump’s tax breaks for tips and overtime pay, NYT’s Andrew Duehren reveals.

The House sounds worried: The Senate should “touch very lightly” what the House put together, House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) warned, per Axios’ Hans Nichols and Stef Kight. “I’m very, very concerned” about some of the changes, Speaker Mike Johnson warned.

Clock’s ticking: Johnson hasn’t given up on the self-imposed July 4 deadline to pass the bill. But if the Senate makes big changes, the process could be pushed back weeks or even months, Meredith and colleagues report. Even so, top Trump officials are adamant that this all gets ironed out in the next three weeks — and they expect Congress to fall in line, POLITICO’s Rachael Bade reports. More on the push from the White House from our colleagues on Inside Congress

TODAY’S BIG VOTE: Will the House pass the White House’s rescissions request to claw back billions for foreign aid and public broadcasting? Cuts to the lifesaving PEPFAR program and PBS in particular have attracted plenty of opposition, meaning it’s far from certain.

First in Playbook — Rescissions as a litmus test: Heritage Action will score the $9.4 billion rescissions package as its first “key vote” of this Congress, signaling that lawmakers’ positions on the bill will factor into their influential conservative scorecards, POLITICO’s Sophia Cai writes in. The move adds pressure as the White House and Hill GOP leaders push to codify a modest portion of the DOGE cuts. “Conservative stakeholders are rallying behind our rescissions package because they know it’s a critical step toward codifying DOGE’s mission and reining in reckless spending,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told Playbook. “House Republicans look forward to getting this done for President Trump and the American people.”

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BEST OF THE REST

MIDDLE EAST TINDERBOX: “Israel is fully ready to launch an operation into Iran,” CBS’ Jennifer Jacobs and colleagues scooped last night, after the U.S. announced it was immediately pulling personnel and loved ones of Iraq, Bahrain and Kuwait. That decision — and reports of an imminent Israeli attack — have left the region on tenterhooks, with fears of Iranian retaliatory strikes in Iraq and elsewhere. Even so, the U.S. is still trying to push forward on nuclear talks with Iran; there are mixed reports on how likely it is that special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Iranian officials in Oman on Sunday.

Breaking overnight: “The International Atomic Energy Agency declared on Thursday that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations, the first time the United Nations’ watchdog has passed a resolution against the country in 20 years,” per NYT’s Steven Erlanger.

SCOTUS WATCH: It’s opinion day at the Supreme Court — and it’s June, which means we could be in for a blockbuster ruling … or not. Check your feeds at 10 a.m. Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers are still trying to get his hush-money case moved to federal court, which could potentially pave the way for them to ask the Supreme Court to wipe out his criminal felony conviction, POLITICO’s Erica Orden reports.

ANOTHER INSTITUTION FALLS: “Fulbright Board Resigns and Accuses White House of Unlawful Interference,” by WSJ’s Natalie Andrews and Katherine Long: “The entire board of the Fulbright program, the nation’s flagship academic-exchange program, resigned over what it referred to as unprecedented and impermissible political interference from the Trump administration in its operations.”

DEMOCRACY WATCH: The Justice Department last month asked Colorado to hand over or preserve all records related to the 2024 and 2020 elections, NPR’s Miles Parks and Jude Joffe-Block scooped. The unprecedented and wide-ranging request has unnerved officials given Trump’s history of lying about election fraud. Some think it’s related to the prosecution of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

IMMIGRATION FILES: The administration is ordering immigration judges to quickly dismiss cases so immigrants can be arrested without having a chance to make their case for asylum, NBC’s Julia Ainsley scooped. … ICE has ordered staffers to meet quotas for investigating companies that might employ undocumented immigrants, WaPo’s Lauren Kaori Gurley and colleagues report. … And Kosovo has become the latest country to agree to take in a few dozen U.S. deportees from other countries, CBS’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez reports.

ICYMI: Plenty of fun reporting yesterday on what prompted Elon Musk’s mea culpa and middle-of-the-night X post that he regretted some of his attacks against Trump. The former DOGE leader had phone calls with chief of staff Susie Wiles and Vance on Friday, WSJ’s Natalie Andrews and colleagues scooped, and then with Trump himself Monday, NYT’s Jonathan Swan and Teddy Schleifer revealed. Wiles had urged Musk to make peace.

TRADING PLACES: Trump lauded the progress in U.S.-China trade talks, saying the superpowers’ agreement is back on track, per Reuters. But Beijing’s concession this week was to green-light rare-earth export licenses for only another six months, which could give China continued leverage, WSJ’s Lingling Wei and colleagues scooped. Meanwhile, Bessent said the July 8 deadline to strike trade deals with many countries would likely get pushed back, per POLITICO’s Ari Hawkins.

HOGG TIED: The DNC officially voted to remove Vice Chairs David Hogg and Malcolm Kenyatta and redo their elections over a procedural issue, POLITICO’s Elena Schneider scooped. But Hogg chose not to run again and exit the DNC after clashing with leaders over supporting younger candidates’ primary bids, Semafor’s Dave Weigel scooped.

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TALK OF THE TOWN

JD Vance reportedly traveled to Montana to meet with Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch at their family ranch.

Stacey Plaskett had a colorful response to an online commenter who called her a “twat” over her tense exchange with Scott Bessent.

Leland Vitter, an anchor for NewsNation, got married to Rachel Putnam this weekend in California, where their dog served as ring bearer.

Phil Murphy is excited about partnering with Men in Blazers for World Cup shows.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — David Plouffe and Chris LaCivita will sit down for a moderated conversation at Coinbase’s State of Crypto summit today, talking about elections and crypto in politics. It’ll stream on YouTube and X. Plouffe, the veteran Democratic strategist, is joining Coinbase’s global advisory council, POLITICO’s Christine Mui and Chris Cadelago scooped. Plouffe, a former top aide to Barack Obama and Kamala Harris, tells POLITICO he’ll bring his skills as a storyteller to an industry whose regulatory struggles have turned into a fight for credibility and stability. Among his charges will be “outreach to tech-savvy voters who flocked to Democrats during the Obama era, but have shifted to the right in recent years.”

PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “Meet the DC Tech CEO With a Flip Phone and No Social Media,” by Washingtonian’s Jessica Sidman: “Danny Hogenkamp [is] the 31-year-old CEO of Grassroots Analytics, a DC company specializing in fundraising software for nonprofits and Democratic campaigns. … He may be a young tech guy, but he’s also a self-described ‘Luddite’ … And he’s on a mission to get others to unplug more, too.”

SPORTS BLINK — Republicans extended their winning streak at the Congressional Baseball Game to five years last night, triumphing 13-2 over Democrats, per Roll Call’s Hunter Savery. “At this level of play, errors are often the deciding factor,” he writes with restraint. The charity game pulled in more than $2.8 million, selling 31,000 tickets. An impressive dive by Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) rocketed around social media.

OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at a party for Sally Quinn’s new novel, “Silent Retreat” ($19.99), hosted by David and Eve Ignatius on Tuesday night: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Antony Blinken and Evan Ryan, Gina Raimondo, Bob Woodward and Elsa Walsh, Jon Meacham, Tim Shriver and Linda Potter, Jamie Gangel and Dan Silva, Wolf Blitzer, Pamela Brown, Margaret Carlson, Mary Jordan, Josh Dawsey, Andrea Mitchell, Tyler Pager, Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova, Rafe Sagelyn, Shawn McCreesh, Bradley Graham, Evan Thomas, Jamie Gorelick, Kara Swisher, Don Graham and Amanda Bennett, Jane Mayer and Bill Hamilton, Elisabeth Bumiller and Steve Weisman, Leon Wieseltier, and Michael and Afsaneh Beschloss.

— The American Telemedicine Association kicked off its third annual Hill day with a reception Tuesday night at the Capitol Hill Club, where Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) spoke. Also SPOTTED: Reps. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), Ron Estes (R-Kan.), Bob Latta (R-Ohio), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) and Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.).

— SPOTTED at the Future of Privacy Forum’s annual D.C. privacy forum yesterday: Gabby Miller, Nick Rossi, Jared Bomberg, David Lieber, Steve Lang, Leigh Feldman, Lindsey Finch, Jules Polonetsky, Tyler Park, Alan Raul and John Verdi.

— The National Confectioners Association hosted its annual Congressional Baseball Game soiree last night, also celebrating National Candy Month, at Royal Sands Social Club. SPOTTED: Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Troy Carter (D-La.), John Downs, Elise Fennig, Brian McKeon, Christopher Gindlesperger, Carly Schildhaus, Ben Jenkins, Tara Rush, Chloe Hunt, Christian Newton, Jonathan DaCosta, Ed Schultz, Emily Dimiero, Courtney Clark, Joe Maloney, Casey Clark, Kristina Peterson, Nicholas Wu, Taylor Giorno, Brad Bosserman, Betsy Klein, Elizabeth Elkind, Morgan Phillips, Deirdre Heavey and Jerry Hagstrom.

— The Appalachian Trail Conservancy held its centennial gala last night at Union Station, where Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) received the Centennial Award of Excellence. Jennifer Pharr Davis interviewed John Mackey, and the group announced a $50 million fundraising initiative. SPOTTED: Sandra Marra, Jim LaTorre, Brendan Mysliwiec, Jeri Ward, Ed Clark, Ellen Shultzabarger, Mike Mahoney, Mamie Parker, David Startzell, Stewart Verdery and Jill Jackson.

— The New Hampshire State Society hosted an “Experience New Hampshire” event on the Hill yesterday, with speakers including Michael Skelton, Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), British Ambassador Peter Mandelson, Navy Secretary John Phelan, Atul Gawande, Kelly O’Donnell and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. Also SPOTTED: Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Andy Kim (D-N.J.) and Reps. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.).

— DLA Piper hosted a “Policy Matters” event with Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Richard Burr and Charlie Dent yesterday. SPOTTED: Karina Lynch, Saxby Chambliss, Jim Blanchard, Tony Samp, Steve Phillips, William Minor, Rachel Rothstein, Andrew Sperling, Robert Hood and Sarah Walter.

— The Insured Retirement Institute held a reception at Gatsby before the Congressional Baseball Game yesterday. SPOTTED: Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and George Whitesides (D-Calif.), Wayne Chopus, Paul Richman, John Jennings, Heath Wheat, Michael Sinacore, Cody Hollerich, Alexis Alber, Jeanne Wilson, Zoe Wong, Victoria von Stein, Carol Danko, Annie Webb, Seaver Sowers, Andrew Vermilye, Jen Fox, James Sonne, Nicole Petrosino and Stephen Chang.

— SPOTTED at the Power to the Patients pre-party before the Congressional Baseball Game at The Bullpen yesterday, featuring a performance by Gin Blossoms: Cynthia Fisher, Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Sam Watters, Charlie Chapman, Tyler Sanderson, Rachel Schilke, Hailey Bullis, Cami Mondeaux, Ryan Schmelz, Madeleine Rivera, Victoria Knight, Zach Halaschak, Allie Raffa, Reese Gorman and John Brooks.

— The International Dairy Foods Association hosted its 41st annual Capitol Hill ice cream party and ice cream social yesterday at Union Square Park. They also released results from a survey of more than 1,000 Hill staffers, which found cookie dough to be the most popular flavor — and also, bafflingly, that 3 percent of staffers prefer to bite the cone before the ice cream. SPOTTED: Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Reps. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), Troy Downing (R-Mont.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Virginia Foxx (R-Va.) and Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.).

MEDIA MOVES — Terry Moran, recently ousted as senior national correspondent at ABC over his post about Stephen Miller, is quickly pivoting to Substack “in this time of such trouble for our country.” … Adam O’Neal was named the next opinion editor at WaPo as the section moves in an ideological direction under Jeff Bezos. He currently is Washington correspondent for The Economist. Announcement video … Maxine Joselow will be a climate policy and politics reporter at the NYT. She previously covered that beat for WaPo, and is a POLITICO’s E&E News alum. …

… Brian Carovillano is joining Versant as SVP for standards and editorial partnerships for news for MSNBC and CNBC. He most recently has led the NBCUniversal News Group standards team, and is an AP alum. … Claudia Meyer-Samargia is joining MSNBC’s PR team as a comms manager, leading press efforts for the “Morning Joe” franchise. She previously was a comms manager at NBC News.

TRANSITIONS — Jim Pinkerton has joined the Tax Cut Victory Alliance as co-chair, alongside Steve Moore. A Reagan and Bush White House alum, Pinkerton will help push to pass the reconciliation bill. … Henrietta Levin is now senior fellow for the Freeman chair in China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She most recently was deputy China coordinator for global affairs at the State Department. … Austin Gage is now a senior associate at Innovative Federal Strategies. He previously was legislative director and counsel for Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.).

WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Alexa Kissinger, an attorney at Kirkland and Ellis and an Obama White House alum, and Gareth Rhodes, managing director at Pacific Street Group, welcomed Felix Arthur Kissinger Rhodes on June 1. He joins big sister Inez. Pic

— Edith Jorge-Tuñón, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee, and Cristina Jorge-Tuñón, budget analyst at the Maryland Department of Budget and Management, recently welcomed Mateo Jorge-Tuñón, their second son. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) … Carrie Budoff Brown … Mayra Macías … Dag Vega … Bloomberg’s Kevin Sheekey … Alex Castellanos … Rabbi Levi Shemtov … Chris Lu … Lilia Dashevsky … Michael Finnegan … Joyce Kazadi ... Eli Zupnick ... FICO’s Dan Archer … Matt Wolking … former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham … Matt Mowers … former Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) … Peter Schechter … Mort Rosenblum … Coco Pannell Smith … Julie Andreeff Jensen … Luis Miranda … Morgan Viña of National Security of America and Invariant … Bryce Bozadjian … Abigail Ross Hopper of the Solar Energy Industries Association

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Government price setting policies like foreign reference pricing are bad for American patients, especially over the long term. These "foreign-first pricing" schemes don't guarantee lower costs. Instead, they take away dollars that could be invested in American manufacturing and undermine biopharma R&D. Most importantly, foreign reference pricing fails to address the real reasons Americans pay more for medicines than other countries: PBM middleman fees, 340B hospital markups and foreign governments not paying their fair share for innovative medicines. We must address these issues to support American patients in accessing and affording the medicines they need, while ensuring the United States remains the global leader in biopharmaceutical innovation. Learn more.