Jack Fitzpatrick ☘️

A Republican revolt over the Trump administration’s anti-weaponization compensation fund abruptly derailed the GOP’s agenda on Thursday, forcing congressional leaders to delay votes on a reconciliation package. w/ @jackfitzdc @lilliebnews @MSNOWNews ms.now/news/republica…

@elwasson They're really spinning their wheels. Buckle up for a bumpy ride. This is where the rubber meets the road. Senators, start your engines. Etc. etc. etc.

The wheels did in fact come off

Senators leaving meeting saying no votes today- they are planning to head home without passing reconciliation. That means Congress will not make Trump’s (arbitrary) June 1 deadline to pass funding for immigration agencies.

NEW: I spoke w/ Rep. Thomas Massie last night for his first TV interview after losing reelection to Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein. Will December be the last we see of Massie? "I doubt it." More in thread on Massie's future, his message to Trump & more, w/ @SyedahAsghar @MSNOWNews.

Rep. Thomas Massie is a true outlier in Congress. It’s why I’ve spent so much of my career trying to understand him — even the part of his career when he wasn’t an outlier. On Massie’s one-of-a-kind status and why he’s more damaging to Trump than anyone: ms.now/news/thomas-ma…

HEBRON, Ky. — It’s the final stop on President Trump’s revenge tour. At least for now. Rep. Thomas Massie is fighting for his political life against Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein. Even though Massie is the 3rd primary, he says it’s most important. “I’m not the last stop or the closing act. I’m the main event.” Massie likes to say he has “Trump antibodies.” Does he still have that immunity? This is a serious, natural infection… We’ll find out.” More on the #KY04 race, w/ @SyedahAsghar @MSNOWNews ms.now/news/thomas-ma…

Dozens of empty Waymos invaded an Atlanta neighborhood and circled a cul-de-sac for hours with no passengers wsbtv.com/news/local/atl…

BARKING NEWS: The unofficial Senate mascot, @BabydogJustice, had surgery this AM, her father Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) tells me. She is expected to make a full recovery and will return to her Hill duties of providing fodder for bipawtisan selfies soon.

House Defense Approps Chair Ken Calvert said he did end up calling OMB Director Russ Vought to talk about the forthcoming war supplemental. Any clarity on supplemental timing? “He’s working on it, he’s working on it,” Calvert told me. punchbowl.news/article/defens…

@KevinJFrey Three Republicans supported the House measure: Barrett, Fitzpatrick and Massie. Golden voted no.

Close but no cigar. A 10th Iran war powers vote — seven in the Senate, three in the House — comes up short. w/ @KevinJFrey ms.now/news/republica…

Edelweiss is an interesting pick

MS NOW EXCLUSIVE: Kash Patel's FBI has imposed new policies that inflate the number of arrests made during his tenure and overstate the bureau's progress in stemming crime, according to a half dozen law enforcement sources with knowledge of the changes. ms.now/news/fbi-insid…

Democrats are focusing their effort on flipping Republicans, meanwhile a democrat (FETTERMAN) was the deciding vote to kill the effort

I asked @POTUS how the rising price of his ballroom (nearly x2 original estimate) and reflecting pool makeover (x7 original estimate) are any different than why he wanted to remove Fed Chair Jerome Powell for 30% cost overruns. Here’s his response:

Senate Defense Approps Chair Mitch McConnell starts today's Hegseth-Caine hearing airing his concern about putting $350B of the defense budget into reconciliation. "The way this budget request is structured matters," he says.

NEW: Pentagon's estimate for Iran war now at $29 billion, per Acting DOD Comptroller Jay Hurst Increased from initial $25B estimate due to "updated repair and replacement of equipment costs and also just general operational costs to keep people in theater," Hurst told Congress

We are in the 11th, not the sixth, week of the Iran war, for anyone who saw President Trump's Truth Social post this morning. But yes, it is still shorter than World War II.

Whatever you think of the $1B ballroom security funding, it illustrates another negative aspect of annual approps in reconciliation: there's no formal budget request, supporting CBJ materials, or budget hearing to explain it, all of which is built-in to the traditional process.

Where'd the $1 billion number come from? Thune: "My assumption is we'll get a fulsome explanation of that. But I think that's kind of what the number was to do all the, you know, the measures that are necessary to secure that building."

Sen. John Thune sounding positive about the reconciliation bill's $1 billion for East Wing security measures. "Securitizing a building in this day and age, with what it takes to keep the leader of the free world safe, it's an expensive proposition."