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John:
Hello from Capitol Hill.
We begin this Congressional work period with the Senate undertaking work on their version of President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” aiming to get the bill out of the upper chamber, reconciled with the House, and on Trump’s desk by Independence Day. While the text of the Senate’s bill is expected to be quite different from the House’s version, similar fault lines have already begun to appear amongst Republicans of the upper chamber. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has publicly registered his opposition to the bill passed by the House, demanding that spending be reduced to pre-pandemic levels. Senator Rand Paul began messaging his opposition early, taking issue with its $4 trillion debt limit increase. Another fiscal hawk, Senator Rick Scott, said he is a nay on the bill because it does not cut deficits enough. Perhaps the most disconcerting statement comes not from a member of Congress, but from Elon Musk, who called the current version of the bill “a disgusting abomination.” Senator Mike Lee quickly concurred with Musk’s assessment. This is more than enough to tank the bill without including the handful moderates who have voiced concerns. The President is, of course, fighting back - hitting Paul first on Truth Social and intimating primary challenges for those that stand in the bill’s way. Amidst the drama in the upper chamber, Speaker Johnson plans to take up a so-called recissions package sent to the House by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. This is a bill that would codify close to $10 billion of the savings created by the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) government-shrinking blitz this year. This package will have to be worked through Congress in similar fashion to the Big Beautiful Bill to become law and solidify the work that DOGE has done. Against this backdrop, the Senate has allowed a precarious amount of nominees (near 100) to pile up without confirmation. A large contingent of conservative leaders, activists, and figures issued an open letter urging Senate leadership to hastily work through this backlog and confirm President Trump’s nominees. You can read the letter here.
Towards the other side of the country, a terror attack was perpetrated by an illegal immigrant against innocent American civilians in the name of anti-Zionism. Just days ago, Mohamed Sabry Soliman used a variety of incendiary devices to light on fire Boulder, Colorado demonstrators that were drawing awareness to Israeli hostages held by Hamas. All the victims were senior citizens, and thankfully, all survived the horrific attack. Videos of the attack show that Soliman chanted “Free Palestine” as he committed the attack, and later confessed to the police that he was motivated by extreme anti-Zionist sentiment. Soliman, his wife, and his five children left Egypt for the United States under the Biden administration and overstayed their visas, but were not removed from the country – his family has since been taken into custody for questioning. Soliman has been charged with a litany of crimes for the act.
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One More Thing
Sincerely,
Jake Chebowski
Government Relations
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