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By Ali Bianco |
Presented by |
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THE CATCH-UP |
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune is bringing the chamber back next week. | Francis Chung/POLITICO |
The Senate is sticking around for one more week. But there’s a heavy dose of doubt about how much that week can actually move the dial for Republicans — with just over a month to go until Election Day. Republicans are trying to bring something home addressing the avalanche of voter frustrations over the cost of living. Rank-and-file members are feeling the heat — especially as the midterm map grows larger than Republicans expected. But with all the brouhaha about tackling affordability before the midterms, there’s no easy option that the conference has coalesced around yet. “We’ve been spending all week trying to make the football coaches happy,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters, referencing the bill to overhaul college sports that senators voted to advance this morning. “I can assure you that moms and dads out there across America, when they lie down to sleep at night … they’re not worried about football.” The week is closing for Republicans with more Senate candidates bucking President Donald Trump, calling for a quick end to the Iran war, breaking on ICE operations in red states and dividing over how to address mounting energy bills. Bipartisan talks to strike a long-sought deal to reform energy permitting have broken down, and the bill likely won’t get a vote until after the elections. And on the White House’s floated diesel export ban, the swingiest voters aren’t on board. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is a “nope,” and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is an even harder no. “It’s a gimmick,” he told reporters this morning. While some like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said they’d like action on gas prices, like temporarily suspending the gas tax, there’s no consensus on how to do it. “I think there have been some ideas out there, most of which I don't think are going to do much to impact gas prices,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters this morning, per POLITICO’s Jordain Carney. “The best way to get gas prices at a better spot is to get things opened up in the free flow of global commerce, which right now in the [Strait of Hormuz] isn't the case.” That leaves one thing Republicans appear capable of voting on next week: Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-Ohio) legislation curbing taxpayer costs on data centers. Thune said the bill “is an option” to move next week. Multiple GOP senators today pointed to the Ratepayer Protection Act as their possible closing act before the midterms. But getting that out the door will mean jumping through several procedural hurdles next week requiring at least some Democratic support. Democrats look poised to push back on the proposal, which Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called a “fraud.” “Democrats in the Senate are playing games with that bill,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) told Playbook today. “It shows you how politicized, how political they are.” But there’s hope within the conference that GOP leadership will at least get senators on the record with it. “We'll vote on it. I'm sure,” Cornyn said. Yet even if Republicans deliver the data center-focused legislation, some members are still pouring cold water on the notion that voter frustration will be addressed. “A lot of that's baked in,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters today. “It’s good policy. Maybe we ought to do it. But if people are doing it under the assumption that it creates a sea change, I just don't buy it.” That’s certainly true of one of the primary drivers of inflation — the Iran war. Yet another attempt to curb Trump’s war powers failed in the Senate today, 49-50, with multiple battleground senators voting against it and outgoing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) also voting no. “You could end the war in Iran tomorrow, and it still is not going to get us back to where we were in February,” Murkowski, who voted yes, told Playbook. “Everybody's looking for a quick, easy silver bullet, and the hard news is there is just none.” What does that mean for the GOP just 40 days out? The administration “should have thought about these things before you went into Iran,” she said. “They knew the midterms were coming.” GOP leaders will get no reprieve from members if they don’t clear anything on costs. “I have been chasing my friend Senator Thune like he stole Thanksgiving since we passed the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ … to do more on cost of living, because we haven’t done a damn thing,” Kennedy told reporters. “And it's biting us in the ass right now.” Good Thursday afternoon — and happy fly out day. This is Ali Bianco. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at abianco@politico.com.
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7 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW |
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1. MEDIA BAN LATEST: “POLITICO granted White House access after being denied earlier Thursday,” by POLITICO’s Megan Messerly: “A POLITICO reporter was granted entry to White House grounds Thursday after the outlet was denied access earlier in the morning despite a judge’s order to immediately restore access. Theodore Boutrous Jr., the lead lawyer for POLITICO, CNN and MS NOW, the three barred outlets, alerted U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly Thursday morning that reporters from each company had been turned away despite his temporary retraining order early Thursday. … CNN and MS NOW also reported that their reporters have begun gaining access to White House grounds.” 2. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: Trump officially kicked off his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping this morning. Trump confirmed he’ll talk about AI — er, “Super Intelligence,” as he prefers to call it — with Xi, but the president repeated he isn’t looking to make any big changes, saying on Truth Social that he wants to “leave it exactly where it is,” per POLITICO’s Greg Svirnovskiy. Still to come: His sitdown with Xi, and the state dinner tonight which will feature a who’s who of the tech industry, with titans like Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg expected in attendance, per Bloomberg. Feeling bear-ish: Xi said China will be sending two pandas to the Atlanta Zoo, calling them an “envoy of friendship.” They don’t call it panda diplomacy for nothing! 3. ELSEWHERE ON THE HILL: Heidi Overton, Trump’s pick to lead the FDA, struck a different tone on vaccines than others in the administration like Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during her confirmation hearing this morning, telling senators the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine “is not lethal,” and affirming that every vaccine on the market is “safe and effective, according to the FDA.” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — a key vote on the HELP Committee — has said Overton would have to disavow the vaccine skeptics to get his votes, but he still seemed to carry some concerns, per POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner. Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee voted 15-12 to recommend confirmation of Chris Klomp as deputy HHS secretary, with Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) joining all Republicans to advance Klomp to a floor vote. More from POLITICO’s Carmen Paun and colleagues La la land: Lawmakers are looking to introduce bipartisan legislation today to establish a federal tax incentive for film and TV production, but it could face some pushback from Republicans uneasy about the prospect of another tax break, POLITICO’s Daniel Miller reports.
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4. POLL POSITION: The NYT’s latest poll with Siena University shows Democrats fending off the GOP in the Michigan and New Hampshire battleground Senate races, but lagging behind in Maine. Abdul El-Sayed leads Mike Rogers by 5 percentage points in his race. Chris Pappas is also running 5 points ahead of John Sununu. But in Maine, Sen. Susan Collins is holding the line by 3 points over Troy Jackson — in Jackson’s lowest showing of any poll since July. But the pollsters warn: independents are still deeply split. 5. WAIT, WHAT?: The Trump administration has launched a new TV ad featuring Trump calling out communism, which appears to be paid for by the U.S. government. Ad tracking firm AdImpact began tracking it last night, with the ad airing on Fox News and Newsmax. It’s cost just over $13,000 so far, mostly within D.C.’s media market, per POLITICO’s Jessica Piper. The White House did not respond to request for comment. More from POLITICO’s Elleiana Green
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6. YOUTH MOVEMENT: “Young men are swinging away hard from Republicans, pessimistic about economy, new poll finds,” by POLITICO’s Samuel Benson and Aaron Pellish: “[Trump] narrowly carried young men in 2024, according to exit polls, a big swing toward the GOP from past elections. But Democrats’ generic ballot lead among male likely voters ages 18-30 now sits at 57%-40%, according to the new survey. … Trump’s favorability is underwater at just 38%-55%, and Republicans’ net favorability among the demographic now sits at -9 points … The young men sampled are overwhelmingly concerned about cost-of-living issues — the same reason that many swung toward the GOP two years ago.” 7. NO DICE: “From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle,” by NYT’s Nick Corasaniti: “It was the Trump administration’s latest stumble in a broad campaign to find proof of widespread noncitizen voting in American elections, despite decades of evidence that it is extremely rare. … In Nevada’s case, [DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin] initially claimed that there were as many as 15,903 noncitizens on the voter rolls. But in a meeting between Nevada election officials and the Department of Homeland Security last month, department leaders admitted that their initial claim was unsubstantiated. … Now, Nevada officials are saying even that 185 number is wrong.”
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TALK OF THE TOWN |
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SPOTTED: Tim Cook having drinks with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, and strategist Jeff Roe at the Jefferson last night. PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION — “Final RFK Stadium Master Plan to Include Gold Line, Parking Garages and Green Space,” by CityCast DC’s Jaclyn Peiser: “Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city's planning office submitted the final draft for the RFK stadium campus to the D.C. Council on Thursday, moving the 180-acre mixed use development one step closer to reality. The plan promises to bring the area surrounding the Washington Commanders stadium up to 6,500 new apartments, over 1,200 hotel rooms, approximately 287,000 square feet of retail and roughly 76 acres of park and open space.” OUT AND ABOUT — The Atlantic Council hosted its annual Global Citizen Awards dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York last night, bringing together about 700 world leaders, diplomats and C-suite executives, with a Lotus race car on display in the reception area. On stage, Keanu Reeves imitated the sound of a Formula 1 car speeding past, while Finnish President Alexander Stubb joked that he was the world’s highest-paid golfer, quipping that one round of golf with Trump led to a $6 billion icebreaker deal between the U.S. and Finland. SPOTTED: Australian PM Anthony Albanese, Papua New Guinea PM James Marape, Stefano Domenicali, Cynthia Erivo, Frederick Kempe, Jenna Ben-Yehuda, Betty Who, Czech President Petr Pavel, Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović, Croatian PM Andrej Plenković, Slovenian PM Janez Janša, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, Hank Paulson, Moldovan PM Vasile Tofan, Benedict Franke, Mary Louise Kelly and Albert Bourla. — The Hispanic Lobbyists Association hosted its annual Avanza Awards at North Hall in Eastern Market last night, honoring leaders advancing Hispanic and Latino influence and opening doors for the next generation. Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) received the Democratic Poder Award, Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) received the Republican Poder Award, Sarita Brown and Deborah Santiago received the Raíces Award, and Isaac Reyes was named Lobbyist of the Year. SPOTTED: Sarita E. Brown, Deborah E. Santiago, Isaac Reyes, Liz Lopez, Estuardo Rodriguez, Larry Gonzalez, Lucia Alonza, Ivelisse Porroa-García, Erica Romero, Art Motta, Vanessa Saenz, Carlos A. Becerra, Manuel Bonilla, Maria Luisa Boyce, Maria Amalla, Pedro Montenegro, Gregorio Rubio, Norberto Salinas, Carla Pierre Rynerson, Corina Scheuren, Tom Moran, Andrea Valdes, Leonardo Bernuy, Marco Davis, Daniel Garza, Omar Franco, Leo Muñoz, Mary Ann Gómez Orta and Patrick Herrera. — Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg Center hosted the inaugural event in its Democracy Reform Primer Series on Wednesday, bringing together former OMB Directors Shalanda Young and Josh Bolten for a panel moderated by CNN’s Lauren Fox. They discussed proposed changes to federal budgeting and spending practices featured in new research by JHU’s Christian Fong and University of Chicago’s Jon Rogowski, who also participated in the discussion. The series is a partnership between JHU’s School of Government and Policy and UChicago’s Center for Effective Government. SPOTTED: Danny Werfel, William Howell, Stephanie Talton, Molly Reynolds, Tina Urbanski, Zach Cohen, Jenn Cummings, Kate Andersen Brower and Brooke Brower. — The Aspen Institute’s Religion & Society Program hosted a dinner at Top of the Hay last night kicking off a summit exploring how religious tolerance, freedom of thought and freedom of assembly have shaped America, featuring a conversation led by Ken Burns and David Brooks. SPOTTED: Hamza Yusuf, Mona Charen, Eboo Patel, Yuval Levin, Walter Kim, Will Saletan, Jon Rauch, Josh Good, Meghan Sullivan, Cherie Harder, John Inazu, Barbara Bradley Hagerty and David Saperstein. TRANSITION — Dylan Rose Geerlings has joined TLG as a senior director. She previously worked at CNN. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editors Giuseppe Macri, Garrett Ross and Kyler Alvord.
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