Mar 18, 2026
View in browser
By Calen Razor and Mia McCarthy
Presented by
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
— Gabbard, Mullin face Senate grilling
— Stratton poised to succeed Durbin
— Trump blesses easing a piece of SAVE
DNI Tulsi Gabbard will testify in front of Senate Intelligence today. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Tulsi Gabbard heads into Senate Intelligence today facing one of the most fraught moments of her tenure as director of national intelligence.
The longtime anti-interventionist is set to be the main character at this morning’s worldwide threats hearing when she appears with other administration officials, after former top aide Joe Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center over the Iran war.
Kent’s resignation has raised the question of how much longer Gabbard will serve in the administration. She’s largely been silent since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran in late February, and she’s been kept out of military planning on Iran since the U.S. struck nuclear sites in the country last summer, John Sakellariadis reports.
“Both Kent and Gabbard have had less and less influence,” one House Republican granted anonymity said. “They’ve been sidelined.” Gabbard will appear before House Intelligence Thursday.
Gabbard’s testimony last March that downplayed Iran’s nuclear weapons program — prompting a “she’s wrong” from President Donald Trump — is poised to be revisited by senators at this morning’s hearing, as are her anti-war positions.
“The president made the right move based upon the information that we’ve all seen in classified sessions,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, an intel committee Republican. He signaled that Gabbard could be asked about her previous assessment at the hearing.
Around the same time in Dirksen this morning, Sen. Markwayne Mullin will be in the hot seat as he testifies on his nomination to replace Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary.
Senate Homeland Security is expected to quickly approve the nomination Thursday, though it’s TBD to what extent Mullin will get bipartisan support beyond Sen. John Fetterman.
“We actually have a pretty good working relationship, and have worked on projects together, but we do have a lot of questions,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, a committee Democrat who has yet to say how he’ll vote. “Largely it’s like, who really is in charge of DHS? … Is it going to be Stephen Miller’s in charge?”
GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING. Overheard in the Speaker’s lobby Tuesday: Rep. Neal Dunn dryly telling a fellow House Republican he’s “back from the dead.”
Email us: crazor@politico.com and mmccarthy@politico.com. Follow our live coverage at politico.com/congress.
POLITICO’S ECONOMY SUMMIT — Join us March 25 for POLITICO’s Economy Summit, which will feature interviews with Sen. Mark Warner and Problem Solvers Caucus Co-Chairs Tom Suozzi and Brian Fitzpatrick. Register now to attend in person or watch online.
A message from The Alzheimer’s Association:
A simple blood test can detect Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear, enabling significantly more effective treatment. The bipartisan Alzheimer’s Screening and Prevention (ASAP) Act ensures people benefit from this scientific milestone. Congress has acted to allow Medicare coverage for mammograms and other pivotal screening tests. Now Congress has the same generational opportunity to redefine Alzheimer’s care: Unlock early detection to enable early treatment. Congress must pass the ASAP Act.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
With help from Jordan Williams
The House will vote at 4:45 p.m. on legislation that would call for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.
The Senate will convene at noon and continue consideration of the SAVE America Act.
— Senate Homeland Security will hold a hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to be DHS secretary.
— Senate Intelligence will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on worldwide threats to American security, with testimony from DNI Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other officials.
— House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other House Democrats will host a noon event marking the launch of a discharge petition to fund DHS operations that aren’t related to immigration enforcement.
— House members will receive a classified briefing from Trump administration officials on extending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act at 3:30 p.m.
Pro subscribers receive this newsletter with a full congressional schedule and can browse our comprehensive calendar of markups, hearings and other notable events around Washington. Sign up for a demo.
THE LEADERSHIP SUITE
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he cannot guarantee the result of a GOP elections bill up for debate this week. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
GOP struggles with SAVE split
Senate Republicans want to use their party-line elections bill to hammer Democrats but they’re stuck sparring with each other after kicking off debate Tuesday, Jordain Carney reports.
Chances are slim the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, with all Democrats and a few Republicans opposed. But it’s also not clear that spending two weeks debating the legislation will be enough to quell the GOP-on-GOP clash over the policies that make up Trump’s “No. 1 priority” and whether to revamp rules of the filibuster to get them done.
“What I promised from the very beginning is we’ll get it up and we will have a vote,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said when asked if a long debate on SAVE would be enough to satisfy Trump. “I can’t guarantee the result.”
Trump is aggressively pressuring the Senate to advance SAVE rather than rallying support for the housing bill the chamber passed last week, Megan Messerly and Alex Gangitano report.
Trump’s push to largely ban mail-in voting is a fierce point of contention that came up during Senate Republicans’ lunch Tuesday, according to three attendees granted anonymity to describe the private discussion. To help address concerns, and with Trump’s blessing, Republicans are incorporating a “hardship” exemption to a list of allowable reasons for absentee voting, according to a copy of an amendment obtained by POLITICO.
House gets a FISA briefing
Trump officials will host a classified briefing for House members this afternoon on the administration’s push for a clean reauthorization of a key spy powers authority due to expire April 20, as conservatives threaten to tank the effort.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he believes his members who are currently opposed to a clean, 18-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, will ultimately vote for the party-line rule, Meredith Lee Hill writes in.
“They’ll get there,” Johnson said in a brief interview as he left the Capitol late Tuesday.
But two House Republicans are already publicly vowing to oppose the procedural rule to tee up a clean FISA reauthorization, which leaders are aiming to put on the floor next week. More than a dozen others are privately objecting to continuing to allow warrantless surveillance. The dissent is also spilling into the separate fight over the SAVE America Act in the Senate.
Johnson, asked if Trump needs to get involved in publicly pressing GOP holdouts, replied: “I can handle it. We’ll get it done.”
Senate GOP not sold on reconciliation for war funds
While House Republican leaders discuss using the party-line budget reconciliation process to skirt Democratic opposition and pass additional dollars related to the Middle East war effort, Thune suggested Tuesday he isn’t seriously considering the idea yet on his side of the Capitol.
“It would be unfortunate but obviously it’s going to take 60 votes,” Thune told Jordain about the possibility that opposition from Democrats could require war funding to go through the reconciliation process.
Asked if another megabill could be a vehicle for war funding, Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham said Congress would tackle it through a supplemental funding package and “hopefully there will be support for that.”
Thune added Tuesday he isn’t “ruling out any options” for a reconciliation bill if there was an idea that could get 50 votes, but there are plenty of headaches awaiting Republicans given their thin margins and internal divisions. Sen. Ron Johnson said Tuesday that while he would support using a reconciliation bill to aid the U.S. operation in Iran, he would push his party to offset any such funding, which could involve spending cuts.
A message from The Alzheimer’s Association:
CAMPAIGN STOP
ILLINOIS PRIMARY RUNDOWN — Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton will likely succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, after defeating Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. She would be the sixth Black woman to have served in the Senate … Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. lost to Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller in his bid to return to Congress … Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss defeated social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh and state Sen. Laura Fine in the Democratic primary race to succeed Rep. Jan Schakowsky. It’s a blow to AIPAC, which spent heavily to attack Biss, a critic of Israel’s war in Gaza. … Former Rep. Melissa Bean won the Democratic nod for Krishnamoorthi’s seat.
POLICY RUNDOWN
SCORE ACT SCRAMBLE — House GOP leaders are working to make tweaks to the so-called SCORE Act, a bill that would regulate the college athletics industry. It’s an attempt to win over several Republicans who opposed an earlier version of the measure, resulting in the entire package being pulled from the floor last December.
Among the items on a list of revisions under discussion, three people with direct knowledge tell Meredith, are organizational changes to the NCAA as well as changes to how athletes are allowed to transfer between schools and how coaches are paid. They’re also discussing instituting requirements for new disclosures on money generated by school athletic programs.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is the point person in GOP leadership spearheading the talks with Rep. Chip Roy and others, and the goal is to bring an updated version to the floor in mid-April.
“I’m hearing good things,” Rep. Gus Bilirakis, the lead GOP cosponsor of the bill, told Mia Tuesday. “We’re making progress.”
But some Republicans say they haven’t yet heard from leaders on what revisions they’re exploring and at least one, Rep. Byron Donalds, is suggesting there’s probably no way the measure will ever get his support.
“I don’t think we should be doing this at all,” Donalds said.
DOJ OFFICIALS TO BRIEF HOUSE OVERSIGHT — Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanche will be on Capitol Hill today to brief House Oversight members on the Justice Department’s ongoing Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
It comes the day after Chair James Comer subpoenaed Bondi to testify under oath as part of the committee’s own Epstein probe. Five panel Republicans joined with all Democrats earlier this month to compel her deposition.
But a GOP spokesperson for the committee told Hailey Fuchs that Wednesday’s briefing, which was scheduled at DOJ’s request, won’t be a substitute for Bondi’s future testimony.
“Scheduling a deposition with the Attorney General will likely take time to accommodate the Attorney General’s and the Committee’s schedules,” the spokesperson said. “The briefing in the meantime will provide members with an opportunity to gather information.”
TRIMMING TRUMP’S POWER OVER LEG BRANCH — House Administration will vote on legislation today that would give Congress the power to appoint and remove the Librarian of Congress and director of the Government Publishing Office, Katherine Tully-McManus writes. That means those positions would no longer be subject to presidential nomination and Senate confirmation.
An effort to assert congressional authority over legislative branch officers comes after members of both parties last year watched with some alarm as Trump summarily dismissed Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden with little explanation.
Under the bill coming up for a markup this morning, the Librarian and GPO director could only be ousted by a majority vote of the leaders of both parties and chambers. Appointments would be handled by a bipartisan congressional commission and not involve the White House.
The measure also would remove the U.S. Copyright Office from under the supervisory authority of the Library of Congress and make the Register of Copyrights role a presidential appointee to be confirmed by the Senate, rather than appointed by the Librarian. That’s in response to Trump’s abrupt firing of the Registrar of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter in the days following his termination of Hayden, which sparked legal confusion about the role.
Congress last voted in 2023 to end the president’s prerogative to nominate the Architect of the Capitol and give it to lawmakers instead.
Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:
- Pro Education: House report spreads blame for rise in antisemitism on college campuses
- E&E: Big week on Capitol Hill for lobbying on permitting
- E&E: Why climate champions are sweating the ‘SAVE America Act’
THE BEST OF THE REST
DHS pick Mullin boasts of ‘special assignments’ abroad but offers few details, from Liz Goodwin and Marianne LeVine at The Washington Post
Capitol Gains: How Congress Gets Rich, from Taylor Giorno, Amelia Benavides-Colón, Violet Jira, Shifra Dayak, Manuela Silva, Christa Dutton, Adora Brown, Torrence Banks and Raymond Fernández at NOTUS
‘He’s free of all the politics’: How Thom Tillis became what passes for a GOP rebel in DC, from David Lightman for States Newsroom
A message from The Alzheimer’s Association:
The ASAP Act is a “mammogram moment” for Alzheimer’s — an opportunity to make early detection the standard of care. When Congress enabled Medicare coverage for routine mammograms, screening rates soared and breast cancer deaths dropped significantly. That early investment led to earlier detection, better outcomes and improved quality of life.
Congress can deliver this same breakthrough for those with Alzheimer’s through the bipartisan ASAP Act, which would allow Medicare to cover a simple blood test to detect Alzheimer’s before symptoms appear. Until Congress acts, Medicare cannot cover screening tests for Alzheimer’s. But fewer than 10% of people receive a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment when today’s FDA-approved treatments are significantly more effective. Expanding access to blood-based screening will help more patients receive an early diagnosis, and the opportunity for earlier, more effective treatment. Congress must support the ASAP Act and appropriate Alzheimer’s care.
TUNNEL TALK
THE COST OF HILL CONVENIENCE — U.S. Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan laid out some hard facts Tuesday about what it will take for the agency to staff more entry points around the Capitol Complex. Turns out, it’s not cheap, Katherine reports.
Staffing just one additional door for an eight-hour weekday shift costs $650,000 per year, including pay for the officers stationed there. “We get consistently asked to open additional doors,” Sullivan told the House Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee Tuesday during a hearing on the Capitol Police’s $1 billion budget request.
He also noted “increasing pressures” to expand the USCP footprint for more open doors as well as for CODEL coverage, which has expanded 100 percent year over year and is “not slowing down.”
JOB BOARD
Callie Strock is joining Speaker Mike Johnson’s team as deputy comms director. She previously worked at the Small Business Administration.
Taylor Stanley is now comms director for Rep. Russell Fry. She previously worked for Rep. Tracey Mann and is a James Lankford and Robert Aderholt alum.
Who’s hiring?
The Consumer Data Industry Association is seeking a senior vice president of government relations and public policy.
Sen. Eric Schmitt is seeking a senior policy and communications adviser.
Rep. Pat Ryan is seeking a communications director.
Rep. Sara Jacobs is seeking a military and veterans liaison in San Diego.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Rep. Eric Sorensen … former Rep. Mike Bishop … Henry Rodgers … Stephanie Schriock … Andrew McCabe … Terri McCullough … Will Ragland … POLITICO’s Nick Niedzwiadek … National Media’s Will Feltus … Katie Denis … Joe Dougherty of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies … Marcus Garza … Katie Hadji of Sen. Bill Cassidy’s office … Chris Harris of Giffords … Jeffrey Surrell of Shot Point Strategies … Ashlee (Reid) Morehouse … Axios’ Kate Hunter … Karen Knutson of MIT … Brad Fitch … Neal McDonald of FlexPoint Media … Errin Haines of The 19th … Versant Media’s Tucker Wilson … Matt Schuck … Jim Mazzarella
TRIVIA
TUESDAY’S ANSWER: Kevin Zedack correctly answered that there are 11 House members named John (if you include Rep. Johnny Olszewski and exclude Jons).
TODAY’S QUESTION, from Monday’s winner GOP Whip John Barrasso: How many current senators were appointed to their positions?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com.
Follow us on X
Mia McCarthy @Reporter_Mia
Calen Razor @calenrazor
Follow us
To change your alert settings, please log in at
https://login.politico.com/?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings
This email was sent to newsletter.londoner@gmail.com by: POLITICO 1000 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA, 22209, USA
