Speaker Mike Johnson races to finalize a sweeping bill amid stubborn disagreements over Medicaid and tax. California Gov. Gavin Newsom suggests how cities can address the homeless crisis. And residents of a Memphis neighborhood are putting up a fight against Elon Musk’s AI company.
Here’s what to know today.
House Republicans consider compromises on sticking points in Trump’s agenda bill
Speaker Mike Johnson anticipates talks will extend into the weekend as the House hashes out aspects of the sweeping bill for President Donald Trump’s agenda, with debates over Medicaid cuts and a state and local tax, or SALT, being among the most prominent issues among lawmakers. But Johnson is hopeful that provisions to address both issues will placate blue-state Republicans and conservatives, two groups who have emerged as the biggest roadblocks in passing the massive bill.
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Johnson suggested that he might be willing to consider provisions for a higher SALT deduction after he met this week with pro-SALT Republicans and hard-right Freedom Caucus members. But “if the SALT cap goes up, then there’s more money you have to go find,” said conservative Rep. Byron Donalds.
When asked if Republicans will speed up the Medicaid work requirements to extract larger savings, Johnson replied, “Everything is on the table.” The idea of speeding up the work requirements so they kick in before 2029, when the current bill would trigger them, has the potential to win over conservative hard-liners.
Johnson can only afford just three Republican defections on the final bill, so even small factions like the SALT Caucus hold enormous power in the negotiations. As it stands, 11 House committees have now passed their portions of the legislation, sending them to the Budget Committee to cobble together into one package.
More politics news:
- As House Republicans scramble to get the votes they need to pass the bill, their counterparts in the Senate are making clear that the agenda package, as it currently stands, will not pass.
- Trump’s radical reinterpretation of the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship went before a skeptical Supreme Court, with justices weighing whether to let the order go into effect while litigation continues.
- Who has the most influence in the Trump administration (besides Trump himself)? It’s not Vice President JD Vance. Not chief of staff Susie Wiles. It’s Stephen Miller, the immigration crusader whose bare-knuckled tactics have driven the president’s agenda.
- The DHS and Secret Service are investigating a social media post by former FBI Director James Comey showing what he described as a “seashell formation” displaying the numbers “8647,” which several officials interpreted as calling for Trump’s assassination.
- The FBI’s Washington Field Office is folding its federal public corruption squad, the same unit that aided Jack Smith’s special counsel investigation into Trump.
- Danielle Sassoon, the former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, made her first public appearance since resigning in protest to the Trump’s DOJ’s orders to drop the charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Gavin Newsom’s homelessness solutions
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared to toughen his stances this week on issues that are likely to follow him on the campaign trail if he decides to throw his hat in the ring in the 2028 election. On Wednesday, Newsom unveiled a revised budget with rollbacks that are meant to turn around the “Trump slump,” referring to the president’s trade war. They include significant cuts to reproductive health services and a walk back of his signature policy to provide free health care for low-income undocumented immigrants.
Also this week, the governor told California cities that there “were no more excuses” for homeless encampments and suggested that municipalities ban camping on public property for more than three nights in a row. Compare that to his moves in 2022, as San Francisco supervisor, to provide more shelters and other services for unhoused people. And 2024, when Newsom told cities and counties to get people off their streets but “with compassion.”
The problem is that Newsom’s latest guidelines on homelessness do not carry enforcement power, meaning local leaders have the option to ignore them and continue to pursue their own policies. And if the situation doesn’t improve before primaries in 2028, Newsom may be forced to explain to a national audience why California, with the fourth-largest economy in the world, has the largest homeless population in the country. Read the full story here.
Cassie cross-examined by Diddy’s defense team
The defense team for hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs set out to portray Casandra Ventura, Combs’ ex-girlfriend and star witness in his federal sex trafficking trial, as a willing participant in his alleged “freak-offs” and challenged her insistence that she was coerced into the sexual encounters. She’s expected to return to the witness stand for more cross-examination today, with the judge and prosecution making clear they’d like questioning to wrap up by the end of the day.
In testimony yesterday, Ventura acknowledged that the early years of her off-and-on relationship with Combs were “loving,” though sometimes driven by jealousy. Anna Estevao, one of Combs’ lawyers, also showed jurors text messages that the defense team believes refutes Ventura’s claims about being forced to participate in marathon sex sessions. In one message from 2009, Ventura wrote, “I’m always ready to freak off.” Read more about Ventura’s cross-examination.
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Read All About It
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with a Ukrainian delegation in Turkey today for peace talks on Ukraine’s war with Russia. The high-stakes negotiations, which were supposed to kick off yesterday, were derailed after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wouldn’t attend.
- Possible tornadoes struck in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, and a Beyoncé concert in Chicago was delayed as severe weather pummeled the Midwest.
- Motown legend Smokey Robinson is under criminal investigation after four former housekeepers accused him of sexual assault.
- A pregnant woman in Georgia who was declared brain-dead has been kept alive by ventilators since February because of the state’s abortion ban, her mother said.
- A 23-year-old beauty influencer was shot and killed during a TikTok live stream at a Mexico salon.
- From Caitlin Clark to Brittney Griner, take a look at the WNBA stars to watch as the season begins today.
Staff Pick: Memphis residents take on Elon Musk
In Memphis, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, says it’s built the world’s largest supercomputer. Colossus, as it’s called, has a big job — training the startup’s chatbot Grok. When you drive by xAI’s main campus, you can see hazy waves above the facility’s methane gas turbines. In the nearby Boxtown neighborhood, some residents are concerned that the turbines could be bad for their health. They want them gone and they’re not being quiet about it. It’s a scrappy community — its name comes from the boxcar parts that homes there were once built from — that has had battles with other industry heavyweights in the past. But this time, they’re going up against the world’s richest man, and it’s not clear who will win. — Bracey Harris, national reporter
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