The Bluff call strategy of the speaker Mike Johnson reaches his limit: from the political bureau

Welcome to the online version of Political officeAn evening newsletter that brings you the latest report and analysis of the NBC News Policy team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign campaign.

In today’s edition, Sahil Kapur explains how a defaulting vote of the committee revealed the limits of President Mike Johnson’s tactics to treat hard rebels on the right in his conference. In addition, we have an overview of the interview with Kristen Welker “Meet the Press” with the former vice-president Mike Pence. And Gary Grumbach answers this week’s reader’s reader about President Donald Trump’s efforts to finance public media.

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– Adam Wollner

The Bluff call strategy of the Johnson speaker reaches his limit

By Sahil Kapur

The series of (relative) navigation series of the chamber of the chamber, Mike Johnson, ended brutal on Friday when he faced his first tangible setback on a bill for massive parties on the agenda of President Donald Trump – A failed vote in the Chamber’s Budget Committee.

So far, Johnson had managed to direct the plan through the closely divided house. There was the original budgetary framework that the Chamber adopted in February, followed by the plan approved by the Senate that the lower room adopted in April, despite solid reserves of the Hard-Liners of the Johnson conference. This allowed the room to start writing the details of the legislation. And this week, Johnson and his management team managed to get 11 chamber committees to approve their wider package parts.

The legislation was then sent to the budget committee, assuming that certain revisions would still be necessary to send it to the full chamber next week before the deadline for the Memorial Day weekend of Johnson.

Throughout the process, Johnson has often called bluff on the persistent reproaches of a group of far -right hawks, forcing them to take votes and assuming that they would not be willing to obstruct the Trump’s day. It is a strategy that has proven to be many times.

But Friday, four conservatives of the budget committee was enough, according to their commitment to prevent the measure from reaching the ground of the room. They criticized the bill for the use of budgetary gadgets to trigger its advantages immediately and postpone its painful cuts for years. And they noted that the package of several dollars of several dollars would explode the national debt.

Now comes the moment of truth. And the limits of the thin republican majority of the Chamber, where the party has only three votes to lose, are about to test the prowess of Johnson as never before.

Hard-liners demand that discount reductions in Medicaid, clean energy financing and other programs take effect earlier. This means imposing political pain in vulnerable GOP legislators before the next presidential election – perhaps even before the mid -2026 – and endanger swing districts.

But if Johnson does not respond to their requests, are hard-liners ready to completely sink the bill? Or was their vote on Friday of a symbolic demonstration to gain a lever effect on negotiation? Admittedly, they will hear news from Trump if they persist. (Before Friday’s vote, Trump called the “equipment” gop on Social truth.)

The speaker also feels the pressure from another corner of the conference. At least four Republicans from New York threaten to bring down the entire bill on soil unless the party leaders are developing the State tax deduction and local (salt) that current legislation costs $ 30,000. This request caused consternation among other Republicans, who largely represent the districts where salt is not strongly used.

And even if Johnson runs the package through the room, the Senate Republicans have already put the house in opinion that the legislation will not pass the upper room without major changes.

Following: The Chamber’s Budget Committee is set to meet Sunday at 10 p.m. HE to vote again on the bill.

Pence says it’s a “bad idea” for Trump to accept a Qatari jet for use like Air Force One

By Bridget Bowman

Former vice-president Mike Pence said on Friday that President Donald Trump should not accept a luxury jet of Qatar to use as next Air Force One, To say the moderator of “Meet the press” of NBC News Kristen Welker that this decision would arouse security and constitutional concerns.

“We must first remember who is Qatar. We have a military base there. I have members of our immediate family who have deployed in the region, “said Pence.

“But Qatar has a long story of the two parties,” said Pence in the exclusive interview at his home in Indiana. “They support Hamas. They supported Al-Qaeda. Qatar has in fact financed pro-Hamas demonstrations on American campuses across the United States. “

Pence added that acceptance of the plane as the next Air Force “is incompatible with our safety, with our intelligence needs. And my hope is that the president reconsiders him. ”

Pence added that there are “very real constitutional problems”, noting the part of the Constitution which prevents civil servants from accepting gifts from a foreign government.

“I think it’s just a bad idea, and I hope the president will think about it better,” said Pence.

Look at the clip here →

And see the full interview with Pence on “Meet The Press” this Sunday.

✉️ Mailbag: Trump vs Congress (and courts)

Thank you to everyone who sent us an email! This week’s question comes from Polly Moore:

“How can Trump defeat the programs established by Congress, such as public television and national public radio?”

To answer this, we turned to the journalist for legal affairs Gary Grumbach. Here is his answer:

President Donald Trump tried to finance the programs established by the congress, but he almost hits roadblocks each time. Because here is the thing – there are legal means to finance the programs established by the congress.

This happens every year when the budgetary process begins, with the contribution on both sides of the aisle in the two chambers of the congress. But the Congress, according to the law, must be involved in this process. It is when they are not, and when a program is stripped beyond its levels mandated by the Congress, that we begin to see judicial measures taken.

And this legal action was rapid and furious. Voice of America, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting have all continued on the Trump administration attempts to finance or dismantle their organizations which were created and funded by Congress credits.

But it was not an easy road. In the current state of things today, a court of appeal temporarily blocked the order of a lower court which would have restarted the funding and brought back the employees of Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, while calls are underway.

It’s all of the political bureau for the moment. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Ben Kamisar.

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