“Rep. Elise Stefanik has a massive edge over other Republicans in a hypothetical party primary to take on Gov. Kathy Hochul next year, a new poll found,” the New York Post reports.
“Some 64% of Republicans would support Stefanik — while only 8% would back Hudson Valley Rep. Michael Lawler.”
Playbook: “Tillis’ looming departure has instantly injected some fresh buzz into the political conversation in D.C; not least because we now have a second GOP senator (alongside Mitch McConnell) who clearly now gives — to be crude — no shits at all what Trump thinks.”
“Witness Tillis’ performance on the Senate floor last night, shredding Trump’s flagship legislation before the eyes of the world and even suggesting the president has been duped. The next 18 months in Tillis world may be quite a lot of fun.”
Punchbowl News: “Senate GOP leaders made the unusual — and unpopular among the rank-and-file — decision Sunday night to take a break before starting the high-stakes vote-a-rama that comes at the end of every budget reconciliation push in the Senate.”
“Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s move to bring senators back in at 9 a.m. for the amendment marathon is a departure from the norm. The process, during which senators can offer an unlimited number of amendments, usually occurs in the overnight hours with the goal of exacting as much pain as possible and wearing senators down.”
“A daytime vote-a-rama likely means the process could drag out much longer — possibly until early Tuesday morning, some GOP senators predict.”
“Republicans’ marquee domestic policy bill that is making its way through the Senate would result in deeper cuts and more Americans losing health insurance coverage than the original measure that passed the House last month, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office,” the New York Times reports.
“According to a report published late Saturday night, the legislation would mean 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034. Federal spending on Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare would be reduced by more than $1.1 trillion over that period — with more than $1 trillion of those cuts coming from Medicaid alone.”
“The fresh estimates make official what many analysts had already predicted and some Republican lawmakers had feared.”
“Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said late Sunday trade talks with U.S. have resumed after Canada rescinded its plan to tax U.S. technology firms,” the AP reports.
“A ferocious advertising campaign is underway with passage of President Donald Trump’s landmark policy bill hanging in the balance, as political groups and business interests spent at least $35 million just this month to try to sway key members of Congress and their constituents,” CNN reports.
New York Times: “This time around, Senate Republicans are instead invoking an alternative accounting method that wipes away the cost of extending tax cuts already in place. Republicans argue that the tax cuts they originally passed in 2017, which expire at the end of the year, should be baked into the country’s fiscal forecasts even though Congress has not yet actually renewed them. By that logic, the $3.8 trillion cost of extending the 2017 cuts is zero, and those cuts can be extended for decades even though reconciliation’s rules prohibit long-term deficit increases.”
“The entire Senate Republican bill relies on this view of the tax cuts’ costs. Without this accounting assumption, the legislation would run afoul of Senate rules and require Republicans to rework the entire 940-page project, which President Trump has demanded be ready for his signature by July 4.”
Wall Street Journal: GOP declares tax-cut extensions “free” to obscure megabill’s cost.
President Trump celebrated the retirement announcement of one of the two Republicans who voted against advancing his “big, beautiful bill,” Fox News reports.
Said Trump: “Great News! ‘Senator’ Thom Tillis will not be seeking reelection.”
He added: “For all cost-cutting Republicans, of which I am one, REMEMBER, you still have to get reelected. Don’t go too crazy! We will make it all up, times 10, with GROWTH, more than ever before.”
President Trump urged Senate Republicans on Sunday to overrule the chamber’s parliamentarian in order to pass key parts of his sweeping domestic policy bill, The Hill reports.
“This bill is a real piece of shit it and it would be excellent if that’s all anyone talked about for the next few days. Super interested in your think piece about the NYC mayor’s race but let’s get to that after we try to stop the biggest wealth transfer in American history.”
— Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), on X, about the GOP megabill.
Playbook: “At this 11th hour, the megabill is effectively duct-taped together.”
Every major health system in Louisiana is warning Speaker Mike Johnson and the rest of the state’s congressional delegation that the Senate GOP’s planned Medicaid cuts “would be historic in their devastation,” Politico reports.
“President Trump said that there will be a temporary pass issued for migrants working at farms and in the hospitality industry to allow employers to have more control after the administration sent mixed messages about exceptions in its mass deportation efforts,” The Hill reports.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican who has represented North Carolina in Washington for a decade and has clashed with President Donald Trump as recently as Saturday, announced Sunday he will not seek reelection, the Raleigh News and Observer reports.
Politico: “Tillis made the announcement after voting ‘no’ on a procedural vote to advance President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ — the cornerstone of his domestic policy agenda. Trump subsequently attacked Tillis in a series of social media posts.”
Axios: Trump goes scorched earth on Thom Tillis over “big, beautiful bill.”
“White House officials will host Kentucky state Sen. Aaron Reed in the coming weeks for a discussion about challenging GOP Rep. Thomas Massie in next year’s Republican primary,” Politico reports.
“I don’t think that we should have billionaires.”
— New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, on NBC News.
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.