Claudia Grisales
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-21-2025 7PM EDT
House Speaker Mike Johnson said leaders made new ground with deficit hawks during the White House meeting in their effort to eventually pass a new sweeping tax and spending package.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-21-2025 7PM EDT
Fiscal hardliners who have raised concerns over the deficit were invited to the meeting after successfully stalling momentum on what President Trump calls his big, beautiful bill. Johnson said they could address some of those issues through presidential executive orders, allowing the vast majority of the current plan a better chance of passage out of the House as early as this week.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-11-2025 3PM EDT
And at least one, Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey, says he's a definite no. Democrats, alarmed by the absence of bipartisan negotiations and the leeway it gives the Trump administration on spending decisions, have said they will not be helping Republicans get the job done. Claudia Grisales, NPR News, the Capitol.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-11-2025 3PM EDT
House Speaker Mike Johnson says he's confident he has the votes to pass the measure, even as his conference needs to stay virtually united to make that happen. President Trump has pushed congressional Republicans to get the measure to his desk to avoid a shutdown. However, a handful of House GOP members have signaled they aren't ready to say yes yet.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-05-2025 8PM EDT
debt limit by $5 trillion to avert a potential breach this summer. But House Republican fiscal hawks say the Senate blueprint does not reduce enough of the federal deficit, with some saying it's time to cut into Medicaid. Claudia Rosales, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-05-2025 8PM EDT
Congressional Republicans are racing to enact key elements of President Trump's domestic policy. But Senate and House lawmakers already face some major divides on what that final multi-trillion dollar measure should look like. It reimagines defense, energy, immigration, and tax policy spending, including plans to extend tax cuts passed during Trump's first term and lifting the U.S.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-14-2024 6PM EST
During an official engagement on Friday, Pelosi fell and was admitted to a nearby hospital for evaluation. She was transferred about two hours away to the medical center at Landstuhl Army Base, to undergo hip replacement surgery Saturday morning. A Pelosi spokesman said she was well on the mend, and she thanked the U.S. military staff for their care. Claudia Rizales, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-14-2024 6PM EST
Former Speaker Pelosi was part of a congressional visit to Luxembourg to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. At the time, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul was leading the bipartisan delegation of more than a dozen members ahead of the anniversary on December 16th.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-05-2025 6PM EDT
debt limit by $5 trillion to avert a potential breach this summer. But House Republican fiscal hawks say the Senate blueprint does not reduce enough of the federal deficit, with some saying it's time to cut into Medicaid. Claudia Rosales, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-05-2025 6PM EDT
Congressional Republicans are racing to enact key elements of President Trump's domestic policy. But Senate and House lawmakers already face some major divides on what that final multi-trillion dollar measure should look like. It reimagines defense, energy, immigration and tax policy spending, including plans to extend tax cuts passed during Trump's first term and lifting the U.S.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-03-2025 8PM EST
Massey, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, and Keith Self of Texas were no's. That triggered a series of negotiations off the floor, extending the time for this first round ballot to more than an hour before Johnson was finally able to flip Self and Norman to yeses, sealing the deal.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-07-2025 2PM EDT
Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell filed legislation to force the president to negotiate with Congress before imposing tariffs. The Democrats' plan has 13 co-sponsors and a growing list of Senate Republicans signing on. This comes as President Trump's wave of tariffs is fueling havoc through global financial markets and raising worries of long-term economic impacts.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-07-2025 2PM EDT
Several senior GOP senators are among the Republicans signing on, including former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The effort is not expected to get very far with stronger opposition in the Republican-led House, but it sends a signal of a growing divide with the president. Claudia Grisales, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-03-2025 6PM EST
Congress began a new term today, the first step in shifting full control in Washington to the GOP. In the Senate, newly elected Majority Leader John Thune is GOP's first new leader in the upper chamber since 2007. That year, his predecessor, Mitch McConnell, took over as Republican leader, stepping down from that role this year. Thune, the former longtime Senate Republican whip,
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-03-2025 6PM EST
is considered a moderating voice in the party and has been on the other side of debates from President-elect Donald Trump numerous times. However, Thune endorsed Trump late in the presidential race last year and has become a growing ally to the incoming president. Claudia Grisales, NPR News.
Up First from NPR
House Budget Plan, DOGE Resignations, Battle Against Bird Flu
So lots of sweeping changes if Republicans can get to the finish line with the final product. But the framework that was passed last night spills out plans for new immigration, defense, energy and tax policy. And there's a lot of big numbers here. For one, it calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. That's tied to an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts that are expiring at the end of the year.
Up First from NPR
House Budget Plan, DOGE Resignations, Battle Against Bird Flu
And then campaign promises are also included in this plan that Trump made about eliminating taxes on tips. It also calls for $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending that would dramatically reshape the federal budget, numbers that help fuel a lot of internal disagreement for the party.
Up First from NPR
House Budget Plan, DOGE Resignations, Battle Against Bird Flu
Exactly. We saw a lot of those that were worried about the spending as holdouts at the beginning of the day. That includes Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, and Tim Burchett of Tennessee. But they all flipped in the end. The party was facing a very tight margin and could only lose perhaps one member. That was it. So it set up this chaotic vote that was on.
Up First from NPR
House Budget Plan, DOGE Resignations, Battle Against Bird Flu
It was off and back on again in a matter of 10 minutes. But members such as Burchett switched to a yes after a phone call with Trump. So in the end, Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey was the only no. He's a loyal fiscal hawk who was opposed to the trillions in new spending.
Up First from NPR
House Budget Plan, DOGE Resignations, Battle Against Bird Flu
The spending cut plans kept the other fiscal hawks in line, but there's still remaining concerns about the potential to cuts to Medicaid, which could impact more than 70 million Americans who depend on this health insurance. And that's something Republicans will have to iron out in the coming weeks.
Up First from NPR
House Budget Plan, DOGE Resignations, Battle Against Bird Flu
Right. This kicks off a process. It's known as reconciliation. It's an obscure budget tool, but it lets Republicans overcome a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Next steps involve actually writing the text for the budget that will become law. Last night was supposed to be the easy part, but it took them weeks to get here. So we'll see if they can seal the deal in the coming weeks.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Ceasefire Talks, Education Department Layoffs, Spending Bill
Right. It extends a current stopgap spending plan through the end of the fiscal year, so through September at lower 2024 levels. This in particular was key to keeping hardline members on board for these forced cuts that we would see in some cases. It's a feature of these kinds of stopgap bills, also known as continuing resolutions, to keep spending flat.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Ceasefire Talks, Education Department Layoffs, Spending Bill
But it's also a rarity to see Congress to fund the government this way for an entire year. Traditionally, we see them pass a full year appropriations plan, but bipartisan negotiations failed to come together in time. So Republicans turned to this partisan plan instead.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Ceasefire Talks, Education Department Layoffs, Spending Bill
Right. Historically, we've seen hardline members of the conference always vote no. But in this case, they were yes. Some for the first time voting yes on a plan like this. It says a lot about the influence of President Trump. For example, hours before the vote, Trump said he would lead an effort to have a member of the conference.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Ceasefire Talks, Education Department Layoffs, Spending Bill
This is Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey primaried because he was the lone no vote for the party in the House. And this happened, again, just before the vote. And within that same window, we saw a handful of holdouts fall in line who were undecided and vote yes.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Ceasefire Talks, Education Department Layoffs, Spending Bill
Maybe, but it could be very close. In this case, they're going to need Democrats to get this done. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, like Speaker Johnson, they're putting the heat on Democrats to get on board or be responsible for a government shutdown.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Ceasefire Talks, Education Department Layoffs, Spending Bill
And Republicans control just a slim majority in the Senate. And that's 53 seats are going to need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. So they hope to get Democrats to hit that threshold. We know one Republican, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, says he's a no vote. While one Democrat, John Fetterman, has signaled he will be the first to join the GOP to get this passed.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Ceasefire Talks, Education Department Layoffs, Spending Bill
Well, they wanted a plan that would put limits on Trump's ability to make cuts and dismantle the federal government. But House Democrats, while they largely held on this together to vote no, that's not as clear for Senate Democrats. They were not forthcoming yesterday in most cases on how they would vote.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Ceasefire Talks, Education Department Layoffs, Spending Bill
And that happened in the case for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was asked several times about this but would not say what the plan was. So we know they're facing pressure from both sides, and they don't want to be blamed for a government shutdown. So it's going to be a big unity test for Democrats.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
Well, they're still trying to land right now. They're on the House floor at this very moment debating the bill. But they do appear to be closing in on potential passage of this massive tax and spending bill. It's quite the turnaround from just a few hours ago.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
They overcame a series of hurdles overnight from GOP holdouts to opposition from Democrats, pushing this plan out of a House Rules Committee that lasted more than 20 hours. And a key procedural vote, President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson may have pulled off another one of these one-two punches we've seen a number of times this year to get GOP holdouts back in line.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
These fiscal conservatives, they're members of the House Freedom Caucus, may now be on board after an hours-long White House meeting yesterday.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
Right. After this White House meeting, as Johnson previewed to us, there was going to be some changes to the bill. We should note the big bill kept a lot of its big provisions. So that includes extending the Trump tax plan, major policy changes in immigration and energy campaign promises like no other. tax on tips.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
It also has a major win for GOP supporters raising the cap on state and local tax deductions for individuals and couples. But there were tweaks to the bill to win over these holdouts ultimately. That included moving up new work requirements from Medicaid to next year and phasing out some energy tax credits.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
These holdouts did successfully stall momentum on the plan over concerns it could add trillions to the U.S. deficit. But these changes, along with incoming plans for new presidential executive orders, appears to have flipped momentum back in the conference's favor.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
Right. Unlike the House Freedom Caucus members, however, Democrats don't have much influence here. However, they slowed the process down as much as possible, helping drag out that House rules hearing and leading fiery arguments on the floor, railing against plans for cuts to Medicaid that could jeopardize coverage for many Americans.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
Right. This is a major step. It looks like they're on track, but there's still a very long way to go. Senate Republicans have raised plenty of their own concerns about the bill already. So now Senate Majority Leader John Thune coming with passage of this bill will face a tough task, which would be threading the needle between this plan and concerns from his conference.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
from his own fiscal hawks in the chamber, as well as moderate concerns about those potential Medicaid cuts. So they've already made clear they plan to make a lot of changes to this House bill.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
They've got to switch it out.
Up First from NPR
Israeli Embassy Employees Killed, Israel's Occupation Plans, Trump Bill Latest
Thank you.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
Thanks for having me, Scott.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
Right. This is a blueprint for a multi-trillion dollar measure that could become a hallmark of Trump's second term. It reimagines defense, energy, immigration and tax policy spending. So lots of major elements here. That includes an extension of tax cuts passed during Trump's first term that are set to expire by year end.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
Republicans argue Americans would see their tax bills rise without it, but critics say it will come with a huge price tag that would raise the federal deficit. It would also lift the U.S. debt limit by $5 trillion to avoid a breach this summer. And without that, we could be looking at a default. So a big concern there they're hoping to address.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
But we should also note this is just the beginning of a very long, complicated process known as budget reconciliation. And that includes a series of legislative hurdles designed to overcome a Senate filibuster.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
Maybe, but it's clearly looking to shape up to be an uphill battle. The house has their own blueprint, and there's big differences between the two chambers they're going to need to sort through. And by big, they're more than a trillion dollars apart in their blueprints.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
Now, if both sides can sort those differences, they'll move to pass one final blueprint, start crafting actual text for this massive plan, then try to pass that plan in both chambers on very tight margins. So while there's this lower vote threshold in the Senate, congressional Republicans need to stay virtually united with little room for error.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
Well, Senate Republicans say they want to make those Trump tax cuts permanent, and they claim it will not increase federal debt through an accounting tactic. But even Republican fiscal hawks in the House are not buying it. Then the Senate blueprint aims to reduce the deficit by around $4 billion. That's a small fraction of what House Republicans want to do. They want to cut at least $1.5 trillion.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
Also in the House, Republicans have directed the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion in spending. That's raised the specter that those cuts cannot happen without a significant hit to Medicaid benefits. And some Republican members say that's something they cannot stomach.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
We expect he will. He's virtually become a congressional closer in terms of getting key legislation past the finish line, whether it's involved direct meetings at the White House with Republican leaders or holdouts, including those fiscal hawks in some cases, and last-minute phone calls to flip Republican no's to yes's. So expect that to ramp up. as this process heats up.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
And he'll likely have to weigh in on that huge divide between the chambers. That at one end, we see fiscal hawks who have proven in past congressional sessions they're willing to rebuke leadership, but they have yet to do that this year. And they're going to be facing off against Republicans firmly opposed to Medicaid cuts.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
So it's shaping up to be one of the biggest obstacles to final passage that will test Republicans' appetite to touch a political third rail in a pivotal moment for the party.
Up First from NPR
Trump's Tariffs Hit Groceries; GOP Spending Bill; College Basketball and Hockey
Thank you.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Well, potentially more chaos. House Republicans are taking control of the lower chamber for this second Congress in a row. And as we saw, the last couple of years brought us some good clues on how today could play out. And as you mentioned, job one for the House today is to elect a new speaker. And there will virtually be no House business until that gets done.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
No new members sworn in, no legislative business. And we already heard from House Republicans at the end of last year who said they were not so sure they would reelect Johnson to the speakership, even as he recently earned Trump's endorsement. And as you mentioned, it's key, but it may not be enough. But why not? I mean, this is an incoming Republican White House with Trump at the helm.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Well, first of all, Johnson is coming into this new House with even tighter margins than we saw in the last couple of years when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, for example, ran for his position. He could only lose two years ago a handful of Republicans to get that gavel in the 2023 election.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
And he still had to go 15 rounds of ballots, days of intraparty fighting on the floor before he won that gavel.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Well, Johnson will need a simple majority of a 435-member House, so 218 votes. And Republicans just have 219 members, so not a lot of breathing room at all. particularly since Democrats are not expected to help Johnson or any other Republican get over the line. So we already know of one GOP member who says he will vote no on Johnson, and it's possible others could follow.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Well, we know Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey has been pretty vocal. He will vote against Johnson. So that could open the floodgates for other House Republicans who want to vote no on Johnson as well.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Some Republicans will use this time for attention in the media, or other potential spoilers may look at this as an opportunity to make a favorable deal with Johnson before they can get flipped to a yes. So they will hold a lot of leverage in this moment.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
Well, it's clearly a test for this new membership, especially House Republicans, and whether they will face the same dysfunction, the same intraparty fighting that dominated the last Congress. And it's also a test of the influence Trump will exert over these members.
Up First from NPR
New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions
In his endorsement of Johnson, he noted that this should get done quickly so Republicans can also quickly get to the work on a very long to-do list.