Morning Report — A House GOP divided ...Middle East

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In today’s issue:  

House lawmakers pressed through marathon committee sessions Wednesday to advance President Trump's legislative agenda, even as Republicans remain deadlocked on key issues including taxes and Medicaid that could delay or thwart passage of the bill by next week.

The gripes from conservatives are centered on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s portion of the sprawling package, which beefs up work requirements for Medicaid and imposes more frequent eligibility checks but stops short of more substantial changes — such as siphoning federal funding away from states. 

The Committee, in a 30-to-24 party-line vote, advanced the health care section of the GOP’s sweeping tax bill on Wednesday.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found the panel’s work would reduce deficits by more than $880 billion by 2034, exceeding the instructions laid out in the budget resolution.

But hard-liners, including Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), are unconvinced by the CBO’s “funny math.”

“In my opinion they don’t go far enough,” said Burlison, a member of the House Freedom Caucus who does not support the package.

While the bill is estimated to reduce federal spending in line with GOP goals, 8.6 million people would lose insurance based on the CBO's estimate — stoking concerns among members in both chambers.

▪ The Hill: The House Agriculture Committee voted to advance legislation that would make significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

▪ The New York Times: Almost all of the cuts that Republicans hope to pass in the coming weeks will last only until Trump is set to leave office.

▪ Politico: Perks now, pain later: 12 ways Trump’s megabill pushes tradeoffs beyond Election Day.

▪ The Hill: Celsius, compression socks and Cava: How lawmakers survived an all-nighter.

Those results are drawing scrutiny and caution from both sides of the GOP’s ideological spectrum, posing a difficult balancing act for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The Speaker aims to bring the full bill for a vote next week, ahead of a self-imposed Memorial Day deadline.

While conservatives complain the cuts are too small, moderates are more guarded and appear nervous to back provisions that were not as significant as they could have been but will still leave millions of Americans uninsured.

And some lawmakers were caught off guard entirely by Medicaid provisions in their own bill.

“There were some items in there that, it was the first time we were hearing of them,” Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.) told Politico.

Asked by The Hill on Wednesday if he believes the deficit hawks are changing the rules in the middle of the game, Johnson said their gripes are part of the process. 

“No, I don’t think the goalposts are being moved,” he said. “I think everybody’s just expressing their preferences for the final product, and again, that’s part of the process.”

Meanwhile, several Republicans from high-tax blue states have also expressed fury over a $30,000 cap for the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, saying it remains far too low. 

Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.), one of the chamber's most vulnerable Republicans running for reelection, is among those pushing for a higher cap. In a social media spat Wednesday, he hit back at comments from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who urged the GOP to press on over the SALT demands within the party.

“[T]he reason you enjoy a gavel is because Republicans like me have won our seats. Good luck being in the Majority if we don’t,” Lawler warned.

▪ The Wall Street Journal: Conservative House members are fuming at some of their Republican colleagues whose insistence on a much larger state and local tax deduction is one of the biggest remaining hurdles to the party’s giant tax-and-spending bill.

▪ The Hill: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified in Congress on Wednesday to defend the Trump administration's budget request but faced a grilling on his drastic overhaul of the federal health agency. Here are key takeaways.  

SMART TAKE with NewsNation’s BLAKE BURMAN:    

Will Congress ban itself from stock trading? The push to ban lawmakers from knowingly making trades received a boost Wednesday.  

“I’m in favor of that, because I don’t think we should have any appearance of impropriety here,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters.   

Johnson also made the case that members haven’t received a pay increase since 2009, making it even more difficult for them to maintain their livelihoods in two different communities as the cost of living has risen. “If you stay on this trajectory, you’re going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress,” Johnson said. 

At some point, you’d think there’d be a discussion on raising congressional salaries. But in the era of the Department of Government Efficiency, will that happen anytime soon, and is the American public ready for that headline?  

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.

3 THINGS TO KNOW TODAY:

▪ Some National Weather Service forecasting teams are so critically understaffed that the agency is offering to pay moving expenses for employees willing to transfer to those offices. Amid DOGE cuts, an estimated 500 National Weather Service employees have been fired or taken early retirements this year.

▪ The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Eric Ueland, a veteran Senate aide and a former White House legislative affairs director for Trump, as the deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget. The vote was 51-45. 

▪ Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired two top intelligence officials who oversaw a recent intelligence assessment that contradicted Trump’s assertions that the gang Tren de Aragua is operating under the direction of the Venezuelan regime. 

LEADING THE DAY 

© Associated Press | J. Scott Applewhite

SUPREME COURT: The most controversial and perhaps impactful rulings by the high court are expected within weeks as justices’ busy term winds down. The Hill’s Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld report how “decision season” will touch on the role of religion in public life, gender-affirming care and the environment.

NBC News and The New York Times: Whether Trump can change automatic citizenship, written into the Constitution as a right for those born in this country regardless of their parents’ citizenship, poses broad implications for his agenda. Oral arguments are scheduled today before the Supreme Court.

WHO’S WRIT OR WRONG? Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday offered some carefully worded support for suspension of habeas corpus as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown (The Hill). Some in the administration believe the government does not have to defend incarcerations of individual migrants because Trump declared a national immigration emergency and he refers to illegal U.S. entry as an “invasion.” “I’m not a constitutional lawyer, but I believe it does,” Noem tolda House lawmaker when asked whether the constitutional test has been met to bypass protections under habeas corpus, which means “you have a body.” The secretary is not a lawyer.

STATE WATCH: Six months after Missouri voters approved an abortion-rights amendment, Republican state lawmakers on Wednesday approved a new referendum that would repeal it and instead ban most abortions with exceptions for rape an incest. 

2028: Is Democrat Rahm Emanuel beta testing a presidential run? The former House member, top adviser to two presidents, ex-Chicago mayor and most recently the former U.S. ambassador to Japan appeared Wednesday on ABC’s “The View,” noting that with his recent political commentary, he’s “in training. … I don’t know if I’ll make the Olympics.”

WHERE AND WHEN

ZOOM IN

© Associated Press | Angelina Katsanis 

TEMPERATURES CLIMB WITH ICE: An altercation last week involving three Democratic lawmakers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at a detention center in New Jersey lingers in the news because House members and the administration squared off, each side wielding political megaphones in a bitter clash made for the digital age.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week accused Democratic Garden State Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Robert Menendez and LaMonica McIver of “committing felonies” during a Friday scuffle with law enforcement. Democrats have accused the Homeland Security Department of lying about what happened, and after a department spokesperson suggested House Democrats could be arrested, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) warned Trump administration officials that “we are going to have a problem” with arrests. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) warned Republicans and the administration on Tuesday to think twice before sanctioning or arresting three elected House Democrats who said they were inspecting an ICE facility in their state.

“They’ll find out,” Jeffries replied when asked how he’d respond if his colleagues were arrested or punished. “It’s a red line, it’s very clear,” he told reporters.

▪ CBS News: Seventeen relatives of a notorious Mexican cartel leader entered the U.S. with luggage by crossing the border in an apparent deal with the Trump administration related to ongoing prosecution.

▪ The Hill: Columbia University is trying to appease the Trump administration, with little tangible success so far. While praise came quickly from the White House, funding paused by the federal government was not restarted and members of the Columbia community are denouncing its actions, which include giving into the administration's original funding demands. 

▪ The Hill: Trump favors transaction more than confrontation, and two can play at that game. An array of Democratic visitors of late beat a path to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and to the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate. "As odious as Democrats find Trump himself, they still have to navigate the world as it is," said Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons. "Everybody is trying to figure it out in a way that's best for them."

ELSEWHERE

© Associated Press | Alexander Nemenov, APF

UKRAINE: Officials from both Russia and Ukraine are due to meet in Turkey today for ceasefire negotiations, which Russian President Vladimir Putin is not slated to attend. Putin’s no-show raised confusion over whether they will even meet. Trump, who briefly floated the idea of attending the talks, looks increasingly unlikely to divert from his planned Gulf State itinerary.

The Hill’s Laura Kelly and Ellen Mitchell write Ukraine's supporters in Europe and Washington were prepared to call Putin’s bluff on peace talks, expecting a proposed summit in Istanbul to fall apart and convince Trump that Moscow is an untrustworthy partner.

Meanwhile, the promise of the Istanbul talks derailed European efforts to get the U.S. on board with imposing new sanctions on Russia if there is not an immediate 30-day ceasefire.   

“There has been coordination with the Americans on sanctions, and there have been good signals,” a European official told The Washington Post. “But in the end, it depends on the flavor of the day.”

Reuters: What are the outlines and risks of a possible Ukraine peace deal?

GULF DEALS: Trump's first trip of his second term through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates is raising questions among Republican lawmakers who are second-guessing Trump's decision to accept a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar and wondering about Saudi Arabia entering the U.S. artificial intelligence industry in a major way, given the national security sensitivity of the technology. These latest developments combined with the Trump administration's nuclear negotiations with Iran, which bear some similarities to former President Obama’s nuclear deal, is putting pressure on the U.S.-Israel relationship and making some GOP defense hawks on Capitol Hill uneasy.

The Trump administration is clearing a path for Saudi Arabia and the UAE to pursue their artificial intelligence ambitions — and some of the biggest U.S. tech companies are seizing on that opening with plans to spend billions of dollars in the region. Under agreements expected to be unveiled in coming days, the key Gulf allies are poised to win wider access to advanced AI chips from Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. that are considered the gold standard for running AI models.

▪ Politico: Dynamics are shifting in the Middle East under a U.S. president who sees the world through a financial lens, putting Arab states at an advantage and Israel at a disadvantage.

▪ CNBC: Boeing inks a record-breaking deal for Qatar Airways to buy up to 210 planes.

▪ The Hill: Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Wednesday questioned Attorney General Pam Bondi about her decision to advise Trump that the Justice Department viewed Qatar’s offer of a jet as a “legally permissible gift,” an assertion disputed by ethics and legal experts. Bondi, as a former lobbyist, represented the government of Qatar.

SYRIA: Trump bucked critics in his administration and security hawks in Israel in his decision to lift all sanctions on Syria and embrace its new leader, a U.S.-designated terrorist with ties to al Qaeda and ISIS. Trump's decision is welcome among Syrian American activists, some oil and gas executives, lawmakers, and Gulf and Arab leaders who lobbied the administration to ease sanctions to allow the new Syrian government a chance at survival.  

▪ NBC News: Trump shocks and delights Syrians by lifting sanctions after 45 years. Now what?

▪ CNN: Israel targeted Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar in a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on Tuesday.

▪ The New York Times: Trump on Thursday visited Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East.

▪ BBC: Trump has said that India has offered to drop all tariffs on goods imported from his country.

OPINION

■ Trump belatedly wakes up to Putin’s brutality, by Jim Geraghty, senior political correspondent and opinion contributor, The Washington Post.

■ The birthright citizenship case could split the country in two, by Andrea R. Flores, guest essayist, The New York Times.

THE CLOSER

© Associated Press | LM Otero

And finally … ✈️ It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for this week’s Morning Report Quiz! Alert to aviation-focused headlines, we’re eager for some smart guesses about busy U.S. airports and those who brave the skies.

Be sure to email your responses to [email protected] and [email protected] — please add “Quiz” to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.

Which airport is America’s busiest, as measured by passenger traffic?

Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey recently experienced which of these safety issues affecting operations?

The main runway (of three) at Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., routinely handles how many daily takeoffs and landings, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority?

Which of these former U.S. presidents was a pilot?

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