In today’s edition … Chris Murphy wants to raise the minimum wage to $25 … We want to hear about your use of AI chatbots … but first …
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Capitol Hill doesn’t need help being chaotic. But Donald Trump is certainly offering it.
Wednesday was a truly chaos-filled day in Congress, much of it spurred by the president himself.
First, Trump abruptly canceled the signing of a bipartisan affordable housing bill, pledging to hold up its signing until Congress passes his bill, known as the Save America Act, to impose sweeping new rules on elections. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and other House Republicans were touting the housing bill at a news conference when Trump announced the cancellation.
Then came lunch.
Trump’s lunch with Senate Republicans was always going to be awkward. The president has stridently clashed with a number of top Republican senators in recent months, demanding they pass his election bill, endorsing their opponents in primaries and fuming at their attempt to curb his war with Iran.
But the details from our colleagues Theodoric Meyer, Alexei Koseff, Jarrell Dillard and Noah Robertson are dramatic — even by Trump-era standards.
Trump did most of the talking, several senators told the group, with Trump venting about a recent vote to block him from ordering more strikes on Iran that passed with four Republicans behind it. When Trump asked why any Republican would support the resolution restricting him, Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the Republicans who supported it, told Trump he had not been forthcoming about the war and that it had not achieved what he had hoped.
“Our original objectives have not been achieved. And I want to know what’s going on,” Cassidy told reporters. The Louisiana Republican has been particularly willing to break from Trump since the president endorsed his opponent, Rep. Julia Letlow, in the state’s primary. Letlow won, effectively ending Cassidy’s political career.
Trump raised his voice to that suggestion, Cassidy said, and the two men got into a shouting match.
“I lost my temper,” Cassidy told reporters. “That’s inappropriate. It’s the Irish in me — but I, again, matched his tone and volume.”
For the team’s full account of the lunch, we highly recommend you read their report — it’s great.
So what is really at play here? Some of it is personal, no doubt. But much of it is also about policy and elections. Senate Republicans know they are facing a particularly tough midterm election this November and want to score any possible political wins right now — like the housing bill — before they face voters.
Many senators also know that the body just doesn’t have the votes to pass Trump’s election law, and some have not been shy about telling the president and the media as much.
“At some point, you have to bow to the reality that there’s not the votes,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), another one of those Republicans whom Trump opposed in the primary, costing Cornyn the election. “Really, what he wants to do is eliminate the filibuster. … There’s not the votes to do that either. So, at some point, you’ve got to bow to reality, and I don’t think he’s quite there yet.”
Trump clearly doesn’t want to hear that — especially from Cornyn. The president spent part of the lunch lobbying the Republicans to pass the election law, but it appears unlikely he won anyone over.
“I think everybody walked out with the very same opinion they had before they came in,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), “but we heard him out.”
Democrats, facing questions about the future of their party after New York Democrats nominated several far-left House challengers on Tuesday night, enjoyed the Trump distraction.
“Donald Trump is once again showing that he doesn’t give a s— about Americans,” Kendall Witmer, the Democratic National Committee’s rapid response director, said of Trump delaying the signing of the housing bill. “Trump had an opportunity to address one of America’s most important issues, but instead he’s choosing to prioritize his own ego-driven agenda that restricts Americans’ fundamental rights.”
This whole episode highlights a core truth about Trump: He wants what he wants when he wants it. While Republicans would like him to think about the midterms by signing broadly popular legislation, Trump is still focused on election security after years of unfounded claims about his 2020 loss.
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Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who has become a vocal critic of the president, said if Trump doesn’t want this housing bill, he needs to “give us something else to address the affordability issue that we all agree is always an issue in elections.”
“To turn a blind eye towards it, I think, is being tone deaf to certain voters,” Tillis told our colleague Mariana Alfaro, suggesting it could cost Trump and Republicans in November.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), whose name is often floated as a 2028 presidential candidate, is introducing a bill Thursday to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour. It is the highest floor of any Democratic Senate proposal.
“Democrats need to offer solutions that are as big as the problems people are facing,” Murphy said in an interview. “The way you solve people’s basic economic problem — not having enough money to pay the bills — is by making a minimum wage be a living wage.”
The bill would raise the minimum wage gradually, with smaller businesses given a longer runway than major corporations. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois) introduced companion legislation in the House.
Murphy has long urged his party to be more aggressive in its proposals to address voters’ affordability concerns, particularly as it hemorrhages support among the working class. Most legislation passed by either party on affordability has focused on tax breaks. Murphy said that approach is an important piece of the puzzle but not enough to energize voters.
“People don’t want to be written a check. People want to work for pay,” Murphy said. “[Tax breaks] are designed to compensate for a rigged system. Why don’t we just unrig the system?”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has a similar proposal to raise the minimum wage to $17 per hour. The bill has wide support across the party, including from Murphy. But the Connecticut senator wants to go further, matching the minimum needed to support a household with a dependent anywhere in the country based on a living wage calculator created by MIT.
For more on the bill, read this from Riley Beggin.
Verite News (Louisiana): A proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in Louisiana this November would allow “municipalities to enter private property to replace lead pipes,” and ensure that local water authorities could use federal funds for the replacement project. Lead is common in water across New Orleans, the outlet reports.
Kingsport Times News (Tennessee): We highlighted a few months ago how Richard Lusk was cited for “unlawful use of a horn” when he honked in support of a No Kings rally on March 28. The ticket was swiftly withdrawn during a court hearing this week. “To me, it’s a victory for the America that I know and grew up with,” said Dan Manweiler, who helped organize the No Kings rally. “I didn’t understand such a thing as a citation for honking your horn, so this is great.”
Miami Herald: It’s the kind of cultural mash-up the World Cup is known for. Fresh off drinking Boston dry, Scotland’s Tartan Army headed south to Miami for the team’s match against Brazil. Where did they go? Miami’s famed Calle Ocho, the cultural heart of the city’s Cuban community. Haggis Asado anyone?
Salt Lake Tribune: Senate President J. Stuart Adams, after two decades in the legislature, conceded to his upstart primary challenge from Stephanie Hollist. The primary reason for the animosity? Adams was central in approving a controversial data center project.
The Democratic primary between David Trone and Rep. April McClain Delaney was obscenely expensive. It was a more-than-$33-million public brawl in Maryland’s wealthiest suburbs between two former friends. And the result? McClain Delaney keeps her seat.
We asked about what the money could have done other than air attack ads and we wanted to highlight a particularly thoughtful response from Katherine Huang.
“It’s funny that people think money equals success as a barometer of a person and their jobs and how no one acknowledges that lower socioeconomic cohorts spend more time doing the things that wealth exempts its owners,” Huang wrote. That money, she added, “buys time to pursue leisure with family. It buys time to read. It buys time to participate in our democracy. It buys time to dream and less time to be in fear.”
She concluded: “33 million could have created so much housing, childcare options and better outcomes for overall health. Yet we cling to the notion that the ultra-rich are the best people to represent The People when the converse is true.”
Our colleague Kevin Schaul tested the major AI chatbots for political bias. His findings were fascinating: “The results suggest that chatbots have clear political leanings that can conflict with promises made by the companies behind them.” So we wanted to ask you: Do you ask AI chatbots political questions? What have your experiences been with these chatbots? If you use them regularly, what do you ask them to do? Let us and your fellow Early Brief readers know at [email protected].
Thanks for reading. You can follow Dan and Matthew on X: @merica and @matthewichoi.
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