| | | | |  | | By Daniella Diaz | | | With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team
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There are three pieces of major bipartisan legislation stuck between the Senate and the House, creating tension between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Mike Johnson with no resolution in sight. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | STUCK IN THE MIDDLE It’s expected that a divided Congress brings turmoil, disagreement and drama. But there are three pieces of major bipartisan legislation stuck between the Senate and the House, creating tension between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Mike Johnson with no resolution in sight. What’s especially notable about these bills is that they each passed one chamber on a sweeping bipartisan vote. But that hasn’t been enough to bring them across the finish line in what some lawmakers see as an erosion in how a divided Congress used to function. — No. 1: Supplemental funding. It’s been over a month since the Senate passed its version of a national security supplemental that would send U.S. aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. It has been stuck in the House ever since. Johnson on Thursday offered a glimpse of hope in an interview with POLITICO, saying he expects to put a “stand-alone” Ukraine bill — as in, not attached to a must-pass vehicle — on the House floor under suspension of the rules. That means it will require a two-thirds majority, and thus many Democratic votes. Plenty of details remain sketchy, though, including the timing of the votes and how the bill, or bills, will be structured. Meanwhile, Democrats and a handful of Republicans have taken things into their own hands and have filed discharge petitions to try to put pressure on Johnson to act. The standoff is “a reflection of the razor-thin majority Republicans have, which is not a functioning majority, and there's an ongoing ideological battle within the House Republican conference for the future of the party,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said in an interview Thursday. “So far [Donald] Trump is winning.” — No. 2: Tax relief. A carefully crafted compromise forged by the top House and Senate tax writers passed the House with resounding bipartisan support nearly two months ago, and now it sits languishing in the Senate amid bicameral tensions among Republicans.. A clash between House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), ranking member of Senate Finance, has been the main holdup. Now Republicans and Democrats in the Senate can’t seem to agree on what measures should be changed to make the bill more to Crapo’s liking. How bad are the disagreements? Schumer told reporters during a news conference last week that he planned to put the bill on the floor for a vote, but his office later had to walk that back: “Sen. Schumer misinterpreted the question from a reporter. He supports the House passed bipartisan tax bill and will continue to work to get the necessary support to get it to the floor.” — No. 3: The TikTok bill. Despite passing Wednesday with more than 300 votes in the House, Senate leaders are pumping the brakes on a bill that would force a sale — or potential ban – of TikTok. Schumer has put the onus on his committee chairs, at least one of whom — Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) — has former staffers now working for TIkTok. The holdup has raised an interesting possibility: Could the Senate hold the bill as leverage until the House passes the supplemental funding bill? Asked about the scenario, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries responded: “Who am I to tell the Senate what to do in terms of its own agenda?” Asked about the huge bipartisan vote in the House, Cantwell said: “We're gonna look at it. We've just been so busy, we just didn't have the chance.” — Daniella Diaz, with assist from Anthony Adragna
| | | | A message from Electronic Payments Coalition: CONVENIENCE STORES ARE RAISING COSTS FOR CONSUMERS: Corporate convenience store chains and their special interest allies are trying to trick Congress into believing that interchange rates on credit card transactions are increasing. The truth: it’s exactly the opposite. Over the last decade, mega-convenience stores have received billions of dollars due to the Durbin Amendment—but haven’t lowered prices for consumers as they promised. Learn more. | | | GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, March 14, where we’re enjoying this unseasonably warm day in Washington! JOHNSON OUTTAKES AND MORE FROM GOP RETREAT WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia — The GOP retreat isn’t over just yet, but we’ve got a rundown of some of the things you missed if you — or your boss — are one of the dozens of House Republicans who skipped the powwow. Mike Johnson speaks: Our colleague Olivia got some face time with the speaker on the final day of the retreat — including the aforementioned news on Ukraine funding and a controversial spy powers fight. But there’s more highlights from the sit-down: — Johnson indicated he is staying out of the race for who will succeed Mitch McConnell as Senate GOP leader, saying he will let it “play out” over the coming months: “Although there are members of the Senate who want me to get involved, I have enough headaches of my own on the House side.” — And asked if his chaotic first months in the speakership has given him more respect for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Johnson said that he always has “respect for anybody who steps up for leadership on either side.” (Remember that Pelosi had a notoriously terrible relationship with his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.) A “big team” message: Johnson spoke to his members on Thursday morning to urge them to do something they’ve frequently struggled with: Stick together. Johnson’s speakership has been marked by deep, and deeply public, intra-party fighting, including a growing number of his members openly trying to oust their own GOP colleagues. “My message is for us to stand together,” Johnson told reporters, previewing his speech to House Republicans. Planning for a potential trifecta: Former Ways & Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady and former Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Greg Walden spoke privately with House Republicans on Thursday to talk about taxes and the reconciliation process, including mistakes to avoid. Brady, who chatted briefly with a group of lawmaker-starved reporters he bumped into at the retreat, noted that a decent chunk of the conference wasn’t around in 2017 and 2018, the last time Republicans had control of the House, Senate and White House — giving them access to reconciliation. He said he talked through the basics of how the fast-track process works. The view from Tel Aviv: Republicans also heard from Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, who gave Republicans an update on the war against Hamas and made a personal pitch for more military aid, according to GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). — Jordain Carney, with an assist from Olivia Beavers
| | | | GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE. | | | | | EXCLUSIVE: DCCC HITS VULNERABLE REPUBLICANS ON TRUMP ENDORSEMENTS There are still a handful of the 17 House Republicans who represent districts that President Joe Biden carried in 2020 who haven’t fallen in line behind Donald Trump as GOP presidential nominee. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is taking aim at the group, releasing a video shared exclusively with Inside Congress that contains footage of Reps. Tom Kean Jr. (R-N.J.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) fielding questions about endorsing the former president. (Molinaro has previously said he plans to support the Republican nominee.) “They can run away all they want, but eventually these so-called moderate Republicans are going to have to go on the record about whether or not they stand with Trump's MAGA cult — because they have already gone all-in on his extreme agenda,” DCCC spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a statement. The video comes after NRCC Chair Richard Hudson said Thursday Republican members should embrace the former president. “I was one of the first people that endorsed Trump this cycle, and I'm proud to run with him,” Hudson said in an interview. “I think he's a net positive everywhere for us.” — Daniella Diaz
| | | | A message from Electronic Payments Coalition:   | | | WHY A HOMELAND SECURITY CR ISN’T SUCH A GOOD IDEA Discussions to wrap up the last package of fiscal 2024 appropriations bills are proceeding without a ton of drama, according to senators and aides. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top GOP appropriator in the Senate, told us in an interview that the defense bill is pretty much finished and that there are a couple of issues with Financial Services and State-Foreign Operations. The elephant in the room? Homeland Security. In our conversations with the folks who help run the Capitol, we’ve heard one potential avenue to avoiding a shutdown fight and its associated drama: Finish all the bills except for DHS and potentially extend just that funding on a continuing resolution for the rest of the year. But there’s a wrinkle: Because the bipartisan immigration deal deal faltered earlier this year in the Senate, the Homeland Security spending bill is the only realistic forum for making border security improvements. So appropriators aren’t giving up yet. “It’s one of those ideas that sounds good, and it’s very tempting to close out the work,” Collins said of a DHS CR, until “you look at: Well, what does that mean for Border Patrol retention bonuses and the need for keeping up the technology?” Collins was one of just four Republicans to vote to advance the border and immigration deal. If that bill “had passed with the immigration/border security provision,” she observed, “then a lot of these issues would have been taken care of.” — Burgess Everett
| | | | A message from Electronic Payments Coalition: CONGRESS: OPPOSE THE DURBIN-MARSHALL CREDIT CARD BILL: Despite vigorous lobbying attempts from corporate convenience store chains and their allies, the Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Bill is deeply unpopular—among both Democrats and Republicans. Credit card routing mandates hurt small businesses by increasing costs, weakening payment security, harming small financial institutions, reducing access to credit for those who need it the most, and ending popular credit card rewards programs. THE CHOICE IS CLEAR: CONGRESS MUST OPPOSE THE DURBIN-MARSHALL CREDIT CARD BILL
Learn more. | | | | | On that SNL impersonation, Mike Johnson said: “I’m delighted they got a tall actor to play me. I'll take that.” The GOP retreat lunch is giving us Fyre Festival vibes. Dinner didn’t look much better, tbh. QUICK LINKS Democrat says green pin ditched by GOP had hidden message, from Emma Dumain at E&E News Johnson faces make-or-break moment on Ukraine aid as pressure mounts, from Jennifer Scholtes and Connor O’Brien TRANSITIONS Katie Petersen is now the deputy speechwriter to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su. She previously was press secretary and digital director for Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.). TOMORROW IN CONGRESS The House and Senate are out.
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| | WEDNESDAY’S ANSWER: Wyeth Ruthven was the first to correctly guess that the current senator who previously served their state as a lottery commissioner was Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). TODAY’S QUESTION, from Wyeth: How tall was the first Capitol Christmas tree, planted on the West Front lawn in 1964? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com. GET INSIDE CONGRESS emailed to your phone each evening. Follow Daniella on X at @DaniellaMicaela. | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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