“The Senate advanced a major cryptocurrency regulation bill Monday on a bipartisan vote two weeks after every Senate Democrat united to block it,” NBC News reports.
“The procedural vote on the GENIUS Act — which would establish the first regulatory framework for issuers of stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar — was 66-32. Sixteen Democrats voted with the majority of Senate Republicans to advance the bill.”
“Apple is weighing price increases for its fall iPhone lineup, a step it is seeking to couple with new features and design changes,“ the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The company is determined to avoid any scenario in which it appears to attribute price increases to U.S. tariffs on goods from China, where most Apple devices are assembled.”
John Gruber: “If iPhone prices go up in September, everyone who isn’t drunk on MAGA juice is going to blame it on the tariffs.”
“The Justice Department announced an assault charge Monday against Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat who was involved in a chaotic confrontation with officials outside a federal immigration facility earlier this month,” Politico reports.
NBC News: DOJ says it has charged New Jersey congresswoman with assaulting law enforcement at ICE facility.
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“The Trump administration first approached Qatar to inquire about acquiring a Boeing 747 that could be used as Air Force One by President Donald Trump,“ CNN reports.
“That’s contrary to the narrative from the president that Qatar reached out and offered the jet as a ‘gift’ to him.”
Politico: “A softening Treasury bond market and surprise downgrade Friday of U.S. creditworthiness are the latest forces weighing on the GOP megabill — an unmistakable nudge to lawmakers that investors are growing increasingly concerned about legislation that could pile trillions of dollars more onto an already staggering national debt.”
“That message is being seen as vindication by some Republicans who have long warned about the nation’s unsustainable fiscal trajectory and who have vowed to seek massive spending cuts as part of the pending legislation.”
President Trump on Monday questioned why former President Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis was not caught and disclosed sooner, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “I think it’s very sad, actually. I’m surprised that it wasn’t, you know, the public wasn’t notified a long time ago.”
He added: “I think that if you take a look, it’s the same doctor that said Joe was cognitively fine. There was nothing wrong with him… that’s being proven to be a sad situation.”
“House Republicans don’t expect to receive a final cost estimate for their ‘one big, beautiful bill’ before GOP leaders plan to put the massive legislation on the floor,” Politico reports.
“Three Republicans with direct knowledge of the talks confirmed that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has conveyed it won’t be able to finish calculating the total price tag of the megabill before Thursday.”
“There are still a number of hang-ups and holdouts. Conservatives aren’t yet on board. Blue-state Republicans don’t have an agreement on the state and local tax deduction. And the bill isn’t even entirely written yet,” NOTUS reports.
“But Speaker Mike Johnson is forging ahead this week with the GOP’s sweeping reconciliation bill, hoping he can somehow meet his self-imposed Memorial Day deadline to pass the legislation.”
“The problem is, for basically every spending cut leaders agree to, there is a vulnerable Republican who grows more uncomfortable with the legislation. And the more kowtowing leaders do for conservatives, the more moderates also want changes.”
“A federal appeals court has left in place an order requiring the Trump administration to seek the return of a Venezuelan man deported in March from the U.S. to a prison in El Salvador,” Politico reports.
“A panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 Monday to deny the administration’s request to block the order a federal judge in Maryland issued after concluding that the man, Daniel Lozano-Camargo, was deported in violation of a legal settlement involving asylum seekers who entered the U.S. as minors.”
Adam Serwer: “The Trump administration’s relentless assault on the rule of law is a kind of arson: It is setting so many blazes that the fire department is having trouble putting them all out at once. Last week, Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to cut off the water.”
Anne Applebaum: “Ukrainians find none of this surprising, because they have been listening to this kind of language for three years. What they do find surprising is the American president’s tolerance for what looks to them like open mockery. President Donald Trump says he wants a peace negotiation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared for a peace negotiation. The Russian president turned it into a farce, and will likely proceed with the farce, stringing out Trump for as long as possible and agreeing to more phone calls and meetings in order to avoid new sanctions, distract attention from Russia’s ongoing war crimes, and make the U.S. appear weak.”
“I will not here offer a full explanation for why Trump does not understand the game that Putin is playing, one that is obvious to absolutely everyone else. I will note only that Trump repeatedly misunderstands Putin, overrates his alleged friendship with Putin, and often attributes to Putin motives that are really his own.”
“President Trump is telling some of the nation’s largest companies that they should eat the cost of his tariffs, as a growing number of businesses signal that they must raise prices to blunt the impact of a persistent global trade war,” the New York Times reports.
“As a result, the man who ran for the presidency by boasting about his business acumen is now openly sparring with corporate America, seeking to dictate how Walmart, Mattel, and other retailers and manufacturers respond to some of the highest levies seen in decades.”
“Since the spring, the United States has imposed a 10 percent tariff on nearly every nation, with steeper duties reserved for specific products and countries, including a minimum 30 percent tax on Chinese imports.”
“Speaker Mike Johnson is set to hold another meeting with Republican members pushing for a higher cap on the state-and-local-tax deduction on Monday night,” Politico reports.
“The 9 p.m. meeting, confirmed by three Republicans granted anonymity to describe private plans, comes amid a final push from GOP leaders toward a vote on the party-line domestic policy bill, with the crucial blue-state tax deduction remaining in flux.”
President Donald Trump is expected to attend the House Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning in the Capitol, Punchbowl News reports.
House Republican leaders are trying to pass their reconciliation bill this week.
“The Trump administration’s first charter flight for dozens of ‘self-deporting’ immigrants took off from Houston early Monday, part of a new program offering them a free trip back home and $1,000 — or else,” Axios reports.
“The self-deportation flights are one of the few incentives for unauthorized immigrants to present themselves to authorities under President Trump’s immigration crackdown, which is long on sticks and short on carrots.”
“House Leadership plans to rely on one person to get the reconciliation bill over the line: President Donald Trump,” NOTUS reports.
“Currently, the House is nowhere close to passing Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” There are moderates who don’t want Medicaid cuts and conservatives who want more Medicaid cuts. There are blue-state Republicans who want an increase in the state and local tax deduction and conservatives who don’t want an increase in SALT, just to name a few issues.”
“But Republican leadership is confident that Trump can do what he’s done in the past: make phone calls and twist arms until the bill passes.”
“President Trump has invited newly inaugurated Pope Leo to the White House,” Axios reports.
“If accepted, the visit would mark the first time a pope has visited the White House since Pope Francis visited then-President Obama in 2015.”
“JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said Monday he didn’t think the full impact of tariffs had passed through to the broader economy and warned that the stock market could slump as companies reckoned with the new costs for goods and supplies,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Dimon: “It’s an extraordinary amount of complacency.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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