| | | | |  | | By Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu | | Presented by |  | | | With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team
|  Rep. Delia Ramirez's husband, Boris Hernandez, is undocumented and a DACA recipient stuck in limbo waiting for his immigration status to be adjusted. | Getty Images | PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Inside Congress newsletter is off on Wednesday for Juneteenth. We’ll be back in your inboxes on Thursday. AN EXECUTIVE ORDER GETS PERSONAL Rep. Delia Ramirez is the sole member of Congress who openly shares that her husband is an undocumented immigrant — and Tuesday they both watched in person as President Joe Biden announced that that group would now have a path to legal status. “Being the only member of Congress in a mixed-status family, it hits different,” she said in an interview with Inside Congress after the White House event. “To be able to physically watch the president, while I'm holding my husband's hand, talk about the things he will do to make sure the families stay together is also very affirmative to the fact that a number of us have been for years working towards this moment.” Her husband, Boris Hernandez, is undocumented and a DACA recipient stuck in limbo waiting for his immigration status to be adjusted. Ramirez (D-Ill.), who was backed by the progressive Justice Democrats in her bid for Congress, has been a vocal critic of Biden’s immigration policy, particularly after his previous executive action to limit border crossings. “To me, it's really important to continue to fight to protect people's ability to be able to seek asylum, while also acknowledging when the president does the right thing,” she said. Today’s action had been a top ask of many progressives and members of the Hispanic Caucus, including Ramirez, who said when she introduced her husband to the president in the photo line Biden had quipped: “It looks like you’re living the dream.” Biden unveiled the long-teased executive actions during an event commemorating the 12th anniversary of the Obama-era program that shielded so-called Dreamers from deportation. The actions will specifically shield some undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation. Those spouses would also be allowed to work legally while they pursue a path to citizenship. Ramirez isn’t the only progressive who sees the president’s latest action as a bit of a reset, after his public efforts to limit asylum claims amid mass border crossings. After a long public split, the left flank is now back to defending the president against GOP attacks. Chair of House Republicans’ campaign arm Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) accused Biden of granting “misplaced mass amnesty plan encourages even more illegal immigration” before the announcement Tuesday. Ramirez called the statement “bullshit.” “And I’m ready for you to quote me on saying that,” she said. “Average spouses of US citizens, who are in this limbo, have lived in this country for about 23 years. … This is not going to impact anyone coming today, anyone that came last year, or even five years ago.” “Anything good Biden does is a problem for Donald Trump,” she added. — Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu
| | | | A message from PhRMA: The 340B drug pricing program is supposed to help vulnerable patients access medicines at qualifying hospitals and clinics. It’s meant to be a safety net for those who really need it. So why is the 340B program padding profits for large hospitals, PBMs and chain pharmacies? Let’s fix 340B so it can help the patients that need it most. Let’s fix 340B. | | | GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Tuesday, June 18, where it’s way too hot outside. GOP’S TAX PLAY Trump offered Republicans a free-wheeling mishmash of policy ideas and political advice last week. Five days later, GOP lawmakers have rolled out their first — but probably not their last — piece of legislation stemming from the meetings: Not taxing tips. Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) rolled out a bill on Tuesday, cosponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), to exempt tips from federal income and employment taxes. And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has also said that he will introduce legislation this week to exempt tips from federal income taxes. This idea was previously pushed by former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) with little legislative success. And even though Republicans are generally rushing to embrace Trump, the bill’s path through Congress is hardly on a fast track this time, either. First, the cost element: The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that exempting tips from federal income and payroll tax would cost between $150 billion and $250 billion in federal revenue over 10 years. That amount could increase “significantly more once behavioral effects are incorporated,” the group added. Secondly, the politics: Senate Democrats aren’t slamming the door on the idea but are skeptical that Trump is serious about the policy rather than just seizing on whatever idea grabs him at the moment. And even Senate Republicans acknowledge that it will have to wait until next year, noting that a bipartisan tax deal that passed the House, which could act as a catchall vehicle for any tax proposal, is still stuck in the Senate. “That’s obviously going to be folded into part of our tax discussion next year,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who helped stall the House’s bipartisan tax deal. “I’m sympathetic. I think there are various ways you can do it.” — Jordain Carney
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | PRIMARIES TO WATCH The most-watched primary tonight is going to be Rep. Bob Good’s attempt to fend off primary challenger John McGuire, which will test both the influence of a Trump endorsement as well as former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s revenge tour. Olivia has detailed the reverberations (and nastiness) of that race, and she’ll be on the ground tonight tracking updates along with our politics team. Here are some other congressional races we’re keeping an eye on. Two races in Oklahoma: House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) face primary challenges, though the incumbents are the heavy favorites. Virginia 7th: A large field of Democrats is vying to succeed Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), who’s leaving the seat to run for governor. Retired Army Col. Eugene Vindman, who rose to prominence because of his role in Trump’s first impeachment, has led the field in fundraising and nabbed the Washington Post’s endorsement. He’s ruffled feathers with local Democrats, though, who have reportedly accused him of bigfooting his way through the primary. Virginia 10th: A jumble of Democrats is running to succeed Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), who’s retiring for health reasons. She has endorsed state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam, though the race has tested DMV political allegiances. Georgia 3rd: It’s a runoff primary between two Republicans: former state Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan and former Trump White House political director Brian Jack. They’re both vying to represent the deep-red district currently held by retiring Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.). Jack nabbed his former boss’ endorsement and is the heavy favorite. — Nicholas Wu
| | | | A message from PhRMA:   | | | | | Chuck Grassley is on #cornwatch. This must be the place: David Byrne of Talking Heads fame was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Derrick Van Orden was in Milwaukee with Trump on Tuesday.
| | | | A message from PhRMA: Hospitals that participate in the 340B program contract with more than 33,000 pharmacies to dispense the program’s drug prescriptions. More than 40% of these pharmacies have financial ties to one of the three largest PBMs – CVS Health, Express Scripts and OptumRx. 340B hospitals and the PBM-owned pharmacies they contract with are profiting off discounted medicines while uninsured patients are left paying full price for their medicines. Let’s fix 340B so it better helps patients. | | | QUICK LINKS Donald Trump calls for ending taxes on tips, drawing mixed reaction from Republicans, from Scott Wong and Sahil Kapur at NBC News No more bridges left to burn in Jewish Westchester, from Matthew Kassel at Jewish Insider Coalition of labor and Alaska Native leaders throws its weight behind Peltola, from Liz Ruskin at Alaska Public Media $2T in red ink: Foreign aid, Biden’s student loan policies hike U.S. deficit forecast, from Jennifer Scholtes Westerman, Peters to unveil bipartisan permitting bill to curb wildfires, from Josh Siegel
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | TRANSITIONS Ross Tullis is joining Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s (R-Texas) office as comms director. He previously was comms director for Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas). Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy is joining the advisory board of C3 AI, an enterprise AI provider. TOMORROW IN CONGRESS The House and Senate are out. WEDNESDAY AROUND THE HILL Quiet for Juneteenth.
| | MONDAY’S ANSWER: Marcia Shoberg was the first to correctly answer that the three unitarian universalists in Congress are Reps. Judy Chu, Ami Bera and Deborah Ross. TODAY’S QUESTION, from our friend Allyson: Name the U.S. president with four sons but had only one — Robert Todd — survive to adulthood. 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 us | | | | |
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