Senate votes to cut funds for NPR, PBS
It’s Thursday. Does anyone else think the D.C. thunderstorms this summer have been particularly wild? Here’s one 📹video of last night’s light show.
In today’s issue:
- Senate votes to defund NPR, PBS
- House breaks longest vote record
- Elon Musk pokes the Epstein file bear
- Hogg, McCarthy bring sass to Hill Nation Summit
- Obamas address divorce rumors
🪫️ NEWS THIS MORNING
Hope there’s a Celsius restock in the Senate today:
The Senate wrapped up its marathon voting session after 2 a.m. Thursday, passing a rare bill to take back $9 billion in federal funding.
Where did this $9 billion come from?: Nearly $8 billion in cuts to foreign aid programs and more than $1 billion in cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
What happens now?: The bill heads back to the House for a final vote. It’s expected to pass.
It’s worth noting that congressional Republicans have some concerns about Trump’s use of a rare tool to cut funding. Though they are still on the verge of approving the cuts, reports The Hill’s Aris Folley.
What do these cuts mean for PBS and NPR?: The bill cut nearly $1.1 billion in funding for public media. That includes PBS and NPR, plus many local stations. Larger stations in big markets may have an easier time fundraising to make up the funding gap (you know the famous slogan about donations “from viewers like you”), but PBS’s chief says it will be “devastating” for rural areas.
CNN estimates that stations will likely feel the funding cuts starting in the fall.
Helpful Q&A explainer from CNN: ‘What will happen to PBS and NPR stations if the Senate votes to claw back funding?’
Maybe Elmo will do a “story time” on TikTok: Why Elmo is sad today
Why Republicans wanted to defund NPR: Republicans have long accused public radio and television of political bias. Trump recently threatened to withhold support for any Republican who votes against this bill.
^ But not all Republicans agreed: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was concerned that cutting public broadcasting would hurt rural radio stations that often provide the only source of information during natural disasters.
Democrats just walked out of a hearing in protest:
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee just approved two controversial Trump nominees. Democrats, who didn’t have enough votes to block the nominations, got up, walked out of the room and did not vote.
The first controversial nominee: Emil Bove, one of President Trump’s former criminal defense attorneys, has been nominated for a lifetime appointment as a jurist on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.
Why Bove is controversial: “He has been accused by a whistleblower of saying the administration should consider telling the courts ‘f‑‑‑ you’ and defy any injunctions imposed by judges blocking their use of the Alien Enemies Act.”
The other controversial nominee: Former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. She has been nominated for U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.
Republicans cut off debate this morning, preventing some Democrats from speaking on Bove’s nomination. At one point, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) appealed to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee chair.
Booker told Grassley: “You are a good man. You are a decent man, why are you doing this? What is Donald Trump saying to you that are making you do something which is violating the decorum of this committee, the rules of this committee, the decency and the respect that we have each other to at least hear each other out?” 📹 Watch the argument
Read Rebecca Beitsch’s reporting in The Hill
Meanwhile, the House had a drama-filled night:
The House set a record for the longest vote in history. 😅 It took seven hours and 24 minutes to vote to advance three cryptocurrency bills while Republican leaders cut deals with GOP holdouts.
Fun fact: The previous record was set roughly two weeks ago when the “big, beautiful bill” vote was left open for more than seven hours.
What was the holdup?: “A key point of contention for hardline Republicans is the lack of a provision in the GENIUS Act that would block the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).” Read Mychael Schnell and Julia Shapero’s reporting in The Hill
Tidbit: ABC News’s John R. Parkinson noticed a cart of food, beer, wine and White Claw was rolled into Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) office during the negotiations.
To see how today’s Capitol Hill drama unfolds this afternoon, check out The Hill’s Evening Report. Click here to sign up to get the next issue in your inbox.
➤ CAPITOL HILL TIDBITS:
No rules after 10 p.m., apparently: The Hill’s Mychael Schnell noticed Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) walking through the Capitol after 10 p.m. last night smoking a cigar. “Inside. In the hallway,” she noted.
I love the Senate sometimes: HuffPost’s Igor Bobic posted what he called, “Today’s Murkowski Moment™”:
“Asked how she felt about [rescissions], she said, ‘Concerned. Apparently, that’s what you journalists say, ‘Murkowski is always concerned.’’
Reporters: That’s Collins
Murkowski: ‘So what’s my version?’
Rs: Frustrated
M: ‘Oh, true. Super frustrated.’”
The video is … something: Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) posted a TikTok of a solo ride on the congressional subway. The caption read, “omw to hold this administration accountable.” 📹 Watch. Looks like he’s parodying the TikTok-viral “aura farming” trend.
Any excuse for a hot dog costume!: Michigan Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D) and Gary Peters (D) hosted a “National Hot Dog Day & A Taste of Michigan” on Capitol Hill. Yes, there was a 📸hot dog costume.
Sen. Mullin, the influencer: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) brought back his behind-the-scenes Capitol tours during Wednesday’s vote-a-rama. In this episode, he gives a quick tour of Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) office. 📹 Watch
📝 JEFFREY EPSTEIN SAGA
Elon Musk is poking the bear:
Tech billionaire Elon Musk lit a fire last month when he alleged that Trump was named in the so-called “Epstein files.” That claim, which the White House fiercely denied, began the very public breakup between the tech billionaire and the president.
Well, Musk is continuing to fan the flames today. Musk publicly asked his artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, a series of questions about the Jeffrey Epstein saga.
Musk: “Are there likely to be electronic records in any government or commercial computers recording who traveled on Epstein’s plane to the US Virgin Islands?”
Grok: “Yes, electronic records likely exist.” Grok then elaborated.
Musk: “Would that mean the government right now – as we speak – knows the names & ages of all those who traveled on Epstein’s plane? In other words, they have a list of all unaccompanied minors on those flights, along with a list of all adults on those flights?”
Grok: “Yes, the DOJ and FAA hold extensive passenger manifests and flight logs from Epstein’s jets.”
This is just an excerpt. Read the full back and forth.
Read more here from The Hill’s Sarah Fortinsky.
This is a good read:
The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes in his column today, “President Trump is trying, yet again, to climb out of the political mire into which he has sunk over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.”
Excerpt: “On Wednesday, Trump sought to pin the blame on unnamed Republicans for getting ‘duped’ by Democrats over the lack of new revelations about the disgraced financier and sexual predator. ‘It’s a hoax,’ Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.”
“Trump further complained that ‘some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net, and so they try and do the Democrats’ work. The Democrats are good for nothing other than these hoaxes.’ Such claims point to a deep level of frustration on the president’s part about a controversy that — unusually for him — has left his own base discontented.”
This!: “It remains to be seen whether his appeal to party and personal loyalty will be enough to quell the storm. Trump’s strategy cuts against years of speculation on the right that more skeletons were about to fall out of Epstein’s closet.”
Read Stanage’s column: ‘Trump struggles to extract himself from Epstein mire’
➤ PLUS:
The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports how the “Epstein files uproar puts spotlight on [FBI Deputy Director] Dan Bongino.”
“Bongino has been at the center of debate over the Epstein files after the Justice Department essentially closed the case in a joint memo with the FBI. The deputy FBI director has clashed with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the issue and reportedly weighed resigning.”
“Sources close to the White House told The Hill that members of the MAGA movement view Bongino as one of their own. He has built a following over the past decade, and is considered a true outsider with a finger on the pulse of the base who was appointed to a position of power to act on issues they care about, including the Epstein documents.”
🎤 THE HILL NATION SUMMIT
The TL;DR:
The inaugural Hill Nation Summit was a newsy day at the Willard InterContinental Washington. Let me catch you up on what happened in the afternoon:
🔷 David Hogg: Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg had a fiery response when asked what he’s most hopeful for as a Democrat. “The fact that I am going to outlive a lot of people who are against me,” he said. 👀 Watch the clip
During the interview, Hogg described his ouster from the committee as a “double standard” — and argued some of the criticism against New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is “racist.”
🔷 Kevin McCarthy: Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) took a shot at former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
The Hill’s Emily Brooks began her interview with a casual question, “How have you been enjoying post-Speakership and post-Congressional life?” McCarthy responded with some snark: “Fabulous. We don’t have Matt Gaetz anymore.”
Keep in mind: McCarthy and Gaetz have beef. Gaetz was a key figure in McCarthy getting ousted as Speaker.
🔷 This was an interesting line: Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, praised President Trump’s foreign policy, particularly on the Middle East.
“I mean, the opening to Syria, I did not anticipate that. That’s pretty amazing. You know, he’s taken a practical approach in the Middle East that I think is, again, will the Iranian question, will play out over the next year or so,” Himes said.
A lighter tidbit: NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt first asked Himes when he walked on stage what his “walk-up music be?” “YMCA,” Himes said without hesitation.
🔷 Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.): Khanna, a prominent House progressive, argued that one of Democrats’ problems is being “too judgmental” of people who voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Khanna said he hasn’t made a decision on whether to run for president in 2028.
🔷 Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.): Donalds was in the Oval Office meeting Tuesday when Trump indicated to Republican lawmakers that he would likely fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell “soon.” He wouldn’t disclose details of the conversation but said he’s not in favor of pushing Powell out.
The Hill’s Miriam Waldvogel and Filip Timotija wrote a great recap of seven memorable moments from the summit.
Plus: The Hill’s Emily Brooks, Mychael Schnell and Ian Swanson wrote 5 takeaways.
COMING UP
The House and Senate are in. President Trump is in Washington. (All times EST)
Noon: A Senate vote to end debate on a judicial nomination. 📆Today’s agenda
1 p.m.: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt briefs reporters. 💻 Livestream
2 p.m.: State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce briefs reporters. 💻Livestream
4 p.m.: Trump signs executive orders.
4:10 p.m.: First House votes. Last votes are expected at 7:30 p.m. 📆Today’s agenda
🐝 INTERNET BUZZ
🍑🍦 Celebrate: Today is National Peach Ice Cream Day.
💍 The Obamas put that rumor to rest: Former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama addressed the divorce rumors that began circulating when Obama showed up at events without his wife. “She took me back!” Barack Obama joked on a podcast. “It was touch and go for a while.” 🎙️ Read more
👋 AND FINALLY…
Because I always want to leave you on a happy note, here’s one of my favorite videos I’ve seen in a while. We don’t deserve these goofs.