May was an eventful month, with the reconciliation bill sticking to timelines (against many predictions) and passing the House of Representatives. This month will be devoted to the Senate, as Majority Leader John Thune pushes to get the bill on the President’s desk by July 4th. 

We write this knowing that the moment we hit send, it will become obsolete, because such is the pace of change these days.  The main event we are watching continues to be reconciliation. 

Members are coming back to Washington, DC, today after a two-week recess for Easter. This four-week stretch will take us to Memorial Day and will be largely focused on getting the reconciliation package across the floor.

The Senate held a marathon vote session on Friday night, ending with the early Saturday passage of a budget resolution that advances President Trump’s widespread agenda.  The measure, as passed, departs from the House version in a few key areas and has sparked criticism from deficit hardliners.

A week-long recess for the House and Senate passed last week with no shortage of activity from the executive branch to keep everyone busy. As lawmakers return to the Hill this week, conversations will continue on a joint budget resolution and strategy to proceed with reconciliation. 

Last week, following a lengthy vote on the floor, House Republicans passed their budget resolution, setting up a challenging reconciliation process in the coming week.  Speaker Mike Johnson managed to hold his conference together, losing only one Republican vote. 

Last week, the Senate passed their budget resolution after an all-night session of amendment debate.  Meanwhile, the White House weighed in again to push the more comprehensive House resolution, and the House returns to Washington this week to take up their version on the floor. 

This past week has seen a fast and furious array of announcements impacting the functioning of numerous agencies, and in some cases, court decisions countermanding those orders.  We will attempt to itemize and unpack these updates.

President Trump announced tariffs against Canada and Mexico (25%) and China (10%) over the weekend, triggering a tumble in the stock market and a range of strong reactions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.  Democrats were quick to contrast the tariffs with Trump’s claim that he would lower grocery prices. 

Last week saw the certification of the 2024 election results and the finalizing of most Committee rosters.  Operations in Washington also paused last week for the ceremonies honoring the late President Jimmy Carter, who, at 100 years of age, was the oldest of all U.S. presidents.