Talk of the Town
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a unanimous decision in favor of a Georgia family whose home was wrongly raided by the FBI and was unable to sue for damages because of law enforcement immunity.
The court said their case can proceed under an exception in the law. Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the opinion.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — Many Republican senators dismissed the idea of overruling the Senate parliamentarian after she rejected key Medicaid provisions in Trump’s tax and immigration bill Thursday, which dealt a blow to Republicans’ plan to slash costs in the budget package.
This sentiment comes as Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said for months that he was opposed to going against the Senate’s rule enforcer.
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough on Thursday denied the GOP plan to cap states’ ability to collect more federal Medicaid funding through health care care provider taxes — a controversial provision that would have funded much of the bill’s tax cuts. Most of the savings in the bill came from the changes in Medicaid.
MacDonough’s ruling means that Senate Republicans will need to retool the provision or scrap it entirely if they want to move forward with attempting to pass the bill using only GOP votes.
The ruling is a major setback for Republican leadership, who are under pressure to expeditiously move it to the Senate floor to meet Trump’s Fourth of July deadline for passage. This ruling will require potentially major reworks of the bill with relatively little time to accomplish them. And no matter how they change it, leaders are likely to frustrate some faction of the Republican conference, which could imperil the bill’s passage.
A number of Republicans said on Thursday morning that they’d work to tweak language in the bill and send it back to MacDonough for review — but would not overrule her. It’s also unlikely that the Senate would move forward with the bill without the provider tax provisions, some said.
The Senate has “no intention of overruling her,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said of MacDonough. “But I think we’ll take another shot.”
Other Republican senators said that this will delay the timeline for passing the bill, which was set to move through the chamber this weekend.
“I think we’ll make another run at it … my guess is that they’ll continue to work,” Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt said.
“Yeah, could push [the timeline] back,” Schmitt said about MacDonough’s ruling. “We’ll see. But we’re committed to being here through the weekend, so I don’t think it changes that overall time frame.”
Republican Sen. Rick Scott said MacDonough’s ruling is “pretty frustrating,” but rejected the idea that the Senate would overrule the parliamentarian.
“What we’ve got to do is work through this process and come up with something that fulfills the Trump agenda — also has fiscal sanity. So I’m going to keep working hard to do that,” Scott said, adding he’s “optimistic” it can be accomplished.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy stated clearly that “we would never overrule the parliamentarian.”
Other Republicans, however, fumed over the parliamentarian and her ruling.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tubberville came out brashly against MacDonough — calling for Thune to fire her “ASAP” and accused her of being partisan. He did not mention overruling her, however.
“The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP,” Tubberville said in a post on X.
“Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP,” he added.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin suggested that MacDonough made her rulings as part of a “political decision.”
“I’m concerned about the parliamentarian’s ability to make these decisions,” Mullin said.
He later added, “If it’s a political decision on [her] part, then that’s not OK.”
The provider tax credit provisions had been emerging as a thorn in leadership’s side even before MacDonough’s ruling.
For days, a small but critical faction of the Senate GOP conference has been raising major flags about the way this cut to states’ Medicaid revenue might kneecap rural hospitals in their states. A number of Republicans in the Senate were threatening to withhold their votes for the package because of these changes to the provider tax, so for that group, MacDonough’s ruling is likely a welcome one.
If changes are made to the Medicaid provision to accommodate MacDonough’s ruling, all eyes will be on a handful of Senate Republicans. Some changes could be deal breakers for those whose vote is critical to moving the bill over the finish line.
Last weekend, MacDonough carefully scrutinized the House-passed bill for possible violations of the Senate’s rules. She has already issued a number of decisions that Democrats are touting as major victories.
This review, called the Byrd Bath — named after the late Sen. Robert Byrd, who helped institute the rules governing budget reconciliation packages, is still underway in the Senate.
Any provision that MacDonough rules out of order with the Senate’s rules will have to be stripped or else the legislation will be subject to the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Republicans need to avoid this, or they won’t be able to pass the bill.
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(WASHINGTON) — Pentagon investigators are looking into whether Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally wrote the text messages detailing the military’s plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen or whether other staffers typed out those details, according to two people familiar with the ongoing probe.
The Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General has spent several weeks interviewing Hegseth’s current and former staff members to figure out how United States strike details taken from a classified system wound up in a commercial messaging app known as Signal.
“Because this is one of the DOD IG’s ongoing projects, in accordance with our policy we do not provide the scope or details to protect the integrity of the process and avoid compromising the evaluation,” DOD IG spokesperson Mollie Halperin told ABC News.
The details were relayed in two chat groups that included Hegseth – one with Vice President JD Vance and other high-ranking officials, and a second one that included Hegseth’s wife, who is not employed by the government.
It remains unclear how soon the findings will be released. Hegseth is scheduled to testify for the first time as defense secretary on Tuesday, where Democratic lawmakers are expected to question his handling of classified and sensitive information.
The sharing of the details reportedly occurred around the same time in mid-March when key members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, including Hegseth, inadvertently shared details about the March 15 missile strike in Yemen with the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
Much of the same content was shared in the second encrypted chat with family members and others — a chat group that Hegseth had created on his personal phone during his confirmation process that included his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, the two officials told ABC News.
In addition to looking at whether the information was classified and who wrote it, investigators are also asking whether any staff members were asked by Hegseth or others to delete messages, according to one person familiar with the IG probe.
The government is required under law to retain federal communications as official records.
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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Army is planning a historic parade through the streets of Washington, D.C., on June 14 that will coincide with and be part of the Army’s long-planned 250th celebration.
The parade will involve some 6,600 soldiers, tanks and infantry vehicles, helicopter flyovers and parachute jumps, according to several people familiar with the planning effort, and will also occur on President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
“The Army is celebrating its 250th Birthday with multiple events leading up to June 14,” the Army said in a statement Friday evening. “The national level celebration will include a spectacular fireworks display, a parade, and a day-long festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The festival will feature displays of Army equipment, military demonstrations, musical performances, and a fitness competition.
“Given the significant milestone of 250 years, the Army is exploring options to make the celebration even bigger, with more capability demonstrations, additional displays of equipment, and more engagement with the community,” it added. “Parade planning is actively underway, and we anticipate approximately 150 vehicles, 50 aircraft, and 6,600 Soldiers to highlight the Army’s 250 years of service to the nation.”
Officials said earlier Friday that the parade had been a possible add-on but had cautioned that no final decisions had been made. The Associated Press first reported details involving the latest plans.
The timing and White House involvement in planning efforts have stoked speculation that Trump is using the Army’s birthday as an excuse to get the kind of grand military parade he wanted during his first term in office. That event was scrapped after estimates topped $90 million.
The cost for this year’s June 14 parade is unclear, officials said, but it will likely be steep. The event will require involvement from several federal agencies, including those requiring security. The Army plans to have soldiers from each of the its 10 divisions represented in the parade, according to a U.S. official.
Earlier this year, city officials expressed concern that heavy vehicles such as tanks would tear up the roads and noted the city would require significant reimbursement to fix any damaged infrastructure.
The tanks would not be allowed to cross the bridges from Virginia into Washington, D.C., only allowing them to operate inside the city along certain roads, according to one official familiar with the planning.
Last month, the Army confirmed the possibility of a parade but called it pre-decisional.
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