The House has delivered a bipartisan rebuke of the Biden administration’s pledge to withhold certain heavy bombs from Israel amid its ongoing conflict in Gaza, passing a bill designed to compel delivery of the weapons.

But Democrats largely held the line amid heavy lobbying against the GOP-led bill from the White House and their party’s leadership against what many deemed a poorly crafted, political ploy to divide them. Only 16 Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the legislation, which the Biden administration has threatened to veto.

Ultimately, the measure passed 224-187.

President Joe Biden’s pause on shipments of heavy bombs to Israel’s conservative government, made on CNN last week, has divided Democrats – causing particular agita among vulnerable and staunchly pro-Israel members. Even so, senior Democrats in and out of the administration tamped down on defections through a concerted pressure campaign throughout the week.

“This administration wants to dictate how Israel executes the war that they were thrust into,” House Foreign Affairs Chair Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said on the floor as he advocated for the measure. “[Israel] did not ask for this war. They did not start this war. Hamas started this war.”

The legislation would slash budgets for the offices of the defense secretary, secretary of state and National Security Council if Biden doesn’t deliver the stalled heavy bombs. It also includes language that would condemn “the Biden administration’s decision to pause certain arms transfers to Israel.”

Three conservatives joined most Democrats in voting no: Reps. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

Prior to passage, the full House GOP leadership team pressured Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to take up the legislation for an up-or-down vote, something the New York Democrat indicated his chamber has no plans to do.

“They are clearly making this decision to appeal to a small subset and element in their party,” Speaker Mike Johnson said of Democrats. “The president himself and Leader Schumer both within just the last several weeks were saying that we should stand with Israel. They were using the right language and now they are doing a complete about-face. Why?”

Even if the Senate were to take up the measure, which Schumer indicated Wednesday won’t become law — “the president has already said he’d veto it, so it’s not going anywhere” — Democratic leaders said they would be able to sustain a presidential veto.

“We will sustain the President’s veto, as we have done consistently throughout the 118th Congress,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday.

Bipartisan support for the key U.S. ally has been apparent throughout the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. Almost all House members backed a resolution expressing support for Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack last fall, while lawmakers came together to provide billions of dollars in aid as part of a package that included support for Ukraine and Taiwan, as well.

Many of Israel’s fiercest advocates of Israel blasted the bill. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) called it “pseudo pro-Israel” legislation.

“This is just a communicative act,” he said on the floor. “This resolution has poison pills, including condemning Biden by name, in a clear effort to get as little Democratic support as possible.”

The California Democrat added he was working with McCaul on a “much better response” that would be considered through the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Nicholas Wu contributed.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday faulted Republicans for a delay in installing a plaque commemorating the officers who protected the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot.

“It simply awaits a decision by the Republican majority to have an appropriate ceremony of recognition and have it placed in a location of honor here,” Jeffries said at a press conference, adding the plaque is on Capitol grounds already and just waiting to be installed.

The office of Speaker Mike Johnson responded: “The Speaker’s office is working with [the Architect of the Capitol] to get the plaque mounted.”

The recognition was approved as part of a spending bill in 2022 and is expected to list the names of all law enforcement officers who responded to the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The deadline set for its installation on the western side of the building was March 2023.

The plaque for officers responding on Jan. 6 would join an existing plaque that honors Detective John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut, who were fatally shot in 1998 by a gunman attempting to reach the majority whip’s office.

Nicholas Wu contributed to this report. 

Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego’s Arizona Senate bid is getting a boost from a group of donors who previously backed Republicans like the late Sen. John McCain and the independent incumbent he hopes to replace, Kyrsten Sinema.

The donors will host a fundraiser Saturday for Gallego, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO. The event signals Gallego is making inroads in two areas GOP opponent Kari Lake is sharply focused on: money and moderates.

In their key Senate contest, Gallego and Lake are both openly courting a small but important bloc of voters who identify as independents or centrist Republicans.

Among the dozen hosts of Gallego’s Saturday fundraiser: Chuck Coughlin, a longtime Republican political consultant who left the party in the Trump era; Don Budinger, who donated to Sinema, McCain and Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee Dave McCormick; and David Reese, a longtime GOP donor.

Both candidates have tried to drift toward the center. But Lake has thus far struggled to win over moderate voters despite an attempted pivot from her fiery 2022 campaign for governor.

That’s given Gallego an opening. His successful courtship of GOP donors is a sign that his efforts to shy away from his roots in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party are paying off.

Several of the hosts have donated to McCain, former GOP Sen. Martha McSally, current Rep. Juan Ciscomani, who represents a swing seat in Tucson, and former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a Trump critic.

Also on the host list: Phil Francis, a former PetSmart CEO who supported Sinema, and his wife, Nita; and former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson Jr., an ally of McCain.

Gallego has posted massive fundraising numbers, ending March with $9.6 million in the bank, compared to Lake’s $2.5 million. And he has used that funding to build an early TV ad advantage, running positive spots to define himself.

Democrats feel optimistic about Arizona because of Gallego’s financial advantage and Lake’s ties to the MAGA wing of the party that may harm her with independents. She’s endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

After telling McCain Republicans to “get the hell out” during her 2022 campaign, Lake has made an attempt to court them in her Senate run. But she has so far gotten few endorsements out of it and Republicans have begun to sound unsure whether they will fully support Lake financially in the fall.

House Republicans took the first step toward holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress — dramatically escalating their standoff with the Justice Department.

The Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Thursday to recommend that the full House hold Garland in contempt. The Oversight Committee is expected to take a similar step on Thursday night. The referral still requires a majority on the House floor before it goes to a U.S. attorney, which means it needs to win over more than a dozen politically vulnerable Republican centrists who have expressed unease about their party’s growing antagonism toward the DOJ.

The move stems from the Justice Department defying House Republican subpoenas for audio of then-special counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Joe Biden. The White House informed GOP lawmakers on Thursday morning that the president had asserted executive privilege over the recordings.

Biden’s effort effectively precludes any criminal prosecution of Garland for failing to comply with the Hill subpoenas. But Republicans vowed to move forward with the contempt recommendation anyway — taking a symbolic shot at an administration official who has become their frequent rhetorical targets. And Republicans aren’t ruling out a lawsuit to try to get the recordings.

“We think it’s important we, as an oversight body, see all the evidence,” Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told reporters about the decision to move forward with the contempt proceedings.

Republicans have homed in on Hur’s investigation of Biden’s handling of classified documents as part of a sweeping impeachment inquiry into the president, which has largely focused on the business deals of his family members. Though the impeachment effort has essentially stalled, as Republicans lack the clear evidence centrists have said they need to vote for removing the president, GOP investigators are continuing their probe behind the scenes.

Hur warned in his report released by the Justice Department earlier this year that Biden could be perceived by jurors as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” — a description that sparked fierce criticism from Biden and congressional Democrats.

But Republicans have seized on the phrase, and requested the transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden, as well as the audio and other documents referenced in the former special counsel’s report. While the Justice Department provided access to the requested documents, and handed over the transcript, it has pushed back strongly against releasing the audio.

“This is an impeachment inquiry. … We are investigating very legitimate questions,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas). “It is critically important for the purposes of this body to determine where we’re going to go with an impeachment inquiry, or any legislative inquiry, to determine what the president’s demeanor was during that interview.”

If a majority of the House did vote to hold Garland in contempt, the matter would then be referred to U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, who is under the umbrella of the DOJ. Graves would determine whether to pursue criminal charges or set it aside, and would take executive privilege into account.

Democrats accused Republicans of focusing on Hur’s findings to try to revive a politically motivated impeachment effort. And they believe the GOP wants the audio so that it can be used by the Trump campaign in ads heading into the November election.

House Democrats also tried, and failed, to amend the GOP’s Garland contempt resolution, including to note that the committee has “serious concerns about the competency of Donald Trump.” Republicans, who run the panel, rejected those amendments.

“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Why do my Republican colleagues need this audio file at all? …They think they can manipulate President Biden’s voice to make it to the next Trump for president ad,” Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) said on Thursday.

Thursday’s back-and-forth comes after a weeks-long battle between Republicans and the Justice Department for the Hur audio. Both Jordan and Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) subpoenaed the audio, and warned that they would initiate contempt proceedings against Garland unless the Justice Department complied.

But the DOJ raised a myriad of concerns about giving the audio to Congress, including that it could negatively impact cooperation with future investigations. Officials also said Republicans hadn’t made an adequate case for what they would get from the audio that they couldn’t get from the transcript.

“The Committees’ needs are plainly insufficient to outweigh the deleterious effects that productions of the recordings would have on the integrity and effectiveness of similar law enforcement investigations in the future,” Garland wrote in a letter to Biden on Wednesday.

The Navy’s top civilian leader came under fire Thursday from Republicans who argued the service isn’t doing enough to fix shipbuilding programs plagued by delays, with one senator even suggesting he should be fired over it.

Republicans at a Senate Armed Services Committee accused Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro of prioritizing climate change over Navy shipbuilding. Del Toro flatly rejected the criticism, arguing that he’s made progress to rein in over-budget and past-schedule ship programs.

The fireworks began with Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who criticized Navy plans that keep the fleet under 300 warships through the end of the decade while China far outpaces the U.S. in shipbuilding. Sullivan argued Del Toro is more focused on climate change and asked the Navy leader if he should resign or be fired over ship delays.

“I feel compelled to ask, if a Marine platoon commander gets relieved because one of his Marines loses a rifle and a Navy captain gets relieved because his crew hits another ship while the captain is asleep, should the secretary of the Navy be relieved or resign for failing on his number one mission — shipbuilding — particularly when he is spending so much time on issues that are not even part of his [legal] responsibilities?” Sullivan asked.

Del Toro told Sullivan that he spends “75 percent of my time on shipbuilding,” yet called fighting the effects of climate change a major issue for Navy readiness.

“Actually, a good leader, what they do is to actually take assessment of the conditions that exist when one comes in. And you know well, senator, that the acquisition issues we’re dealing with go back decades,” Del Toro said. “What I’m trying to do, and have been doing from the day that I became secretary, was to be honest, transparent and deeply committed to turning things around. And that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

The session was unusually acrimonious for the traditionally bipartisan committee. After several rounds of tense questioning that saw Republicans interrupt Del Toro, Armed Services Chair Jack Reed (D-R.I.) made a plea for civility from committee rank-and-file.

“This committee has operated for many years based on a mutual respect for the witnesses and the senators,” Reed told senators. “The level of argumentation at this point, I think, is something we haven’t seen in a long time.”

Del Toro faced intense backlash from GOP senators over his focus on climate change, though concerns about shipbuilding delays — and whether the service’s budget for ships is enough — are bipartisan. A recent Navy review found delays of up to several years in the service’s top programs, including construction of aircraft carriers, submarines and a new frigate.

Del Toro argued that decades of Navy policy have led to this point and has highlighted the impacts of the pandemic and worker shortages as major recent hurdles. He also dinged defense contractors for using profits to repurchase stock, arguing some companies are putting shareholder interests over the needs of their customer, the Navy.

But Republicans aimed to put the onus on Del Toro, pointing to his emphasis on climate change. The Pentagon has noted that extreme weather and rising sea levels will harm military readiness and has sought to mitigate those effects. But some Republicans argue those efforts and other Biden-era policies — such as efforts to promote diversity and country extremism in the ranks — are distracting the military from its main mission of deterring China and Russia.

North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer, the top Republican on the Armed Services Seapower panel, pointed to China’s rapid naval buildup.

“I see a really big problem that’s not being addressed nearly as enthusiastically as climate change is with the Navy,” Cramer said.

Del Toro argued that climate policies are not “interfering with the things that we’re doing actually to deterring China.” He also pointed to Navy operations in the Middle East since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October, which included protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea and defeating drone and missile attacks by Iran and its proxies.

“For the past six and a half months, our Navy and Marine Corps has proved to the world how capable we are. We are the very best,” he said. “But that also includes worrying in the future about the impact that climate has on our installation readiness.”

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) piled on, criticizing Del Toro and Pentagon leadership over diversity, equity and inclusion policies that he argued hurt recruiting. He also pressed Del Toro on Covid vaccine mandates, which have since been overturned but forced out several thousand personnel who refused the shot.

“You have recruitment challenges. You refused to admit that DEI’s a part of this. You’re firing qualified people who are well trained,” Schmitt told Del Toro. “And you sit here so smugly to act like none of that has any impact on the readiness of our Navy.”

Schmitt then asked Del Toro if he believed “that climate change is a bigger threat to the American people than a nuclear holocaust.”

“Of course not,” Del Toro shot back. Schmitt concluded that “Teddy Roosevelt in Admiral Nimitz would be rolling in their grave” over his equivocation on the issues.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined 10 other Democrats in defying Joe Biden and passed a measure that would undo SEC guidance on cryptocurrency accounting, sending the measure to the president’s desk on Thursday with stronger-than-expected bipartisan support.

The Senate voted 60-38 to back the effort, which would undo a rule that directs companies to mark digital assets as liabilities on their balance sheets. The White House has already said Biden would veto it, his first axing of a standalone crypto measure.

Critics, including banking groups and crypto executives, say the guidance could discourage banks from holding those digital assets. They contend that it should have gone through the SEC’s rulemaking process instead of being issued as guidance, which involves less public input.

“New York State already has a strong law on the books, and they weren’t consulted on this regulation,” Schumer said in a statement after the vote.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who led the effort in the Senate to kill the guidance, said it “puts consumers at risk.”

The rollback drew support from 11 Democrats: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Gary Peters of Michigan, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Jon Tester of Montana, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Schumer. Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who aligns with Democrats, also backed the effort.

The SEC guidance “will limit options for consumers and leave them with less, not more consumer protection in cases of bankruptcy,” Gillibrand said.

Most Democrats and investor protection groups say the guidance safeguards consumers and the broader financial system. They also point to a Government Accountability Office report that found the SEC should have sent the guidance to Congress for review, but did not need to subject it to notice and comment.

“Today’s vote — coming more than two years after the SEC wrote the bulletin and applying to a staff bulletin, rather than a rule — is far outside the scope of the CRA,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a top crypto critic, said on the Senate floor Thursday. “We should not be holding this vote, and all by itself that is a good enough reason to vote no.”

Warren added that the guidance “simply clarifies how companies should account” in their financial disclosures for the “unique risks of crypto.”

The House approved the measure last week with the help of 21 Democrats. Members, aides and lobbyists have eyed the tallies as possible bellwethers for a vote next week on House Republicans’ flagship crypto package.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) has a rare feat in modern congressional terms: Forcing floor consideration of legislation — on this occasion, a bill he crafted that would provide tax relief for losses due to federally declared disasters.

He invoked a rarely successful procedural tool, the so-called discharge petition, to compel a floor vote on his legislation aimed at helping victims of hurricanes, wildfires and the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. The Florida Republican hit 218 signatories — a majority of the House — of supporters on Wednesday, according to the chamber clerk.

Discharge petitions rarely succeed. The last one to hit the necessary number of signatures to force floor consideration concerned the Export-Import Bank, back in 2015. Steube called for the Senate to act swiftly once it passes the House.

Democratic Whip Katherine Clark called on Democrats to sign onto the discharge petition in a meeting Wednesday, a person familiar told POLITICO. More Democrats have signed onto the petition than Republicans.

“I am grateful for the motivation and support of 217 of my bipartisan colleagues as we join forces to deliver tax relief for Americans all across the country,” Steube said in a statement. “That’s a testament to how important this issue is for ALL of our constituents.”

Speaker Mike Johnson’s office did not immediately comment, though he is currently not among the signatories of the petition.

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole handed out funding caps Thursday for each of his 12 subcommittees, with overall totals that undercut bipartisan agreements struck last year during debt limit negotiations.

The levels would boost defense budgets by about 1 percent in the fiscal year that begins in October, while cutting non-defense funding by roughly 6 percent, Cole said. Those allocations are far lower than Senate leaders in both parties are seeking, foreshadowing yet another multi-month funding clash expected to drag beyond the November election.

With markups of appropriations bills planned for next week, House Republicans are working under spending caps set in the debt limit deal President Joe Biden reached last year with then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But they are ignoring other pieces of the agreement.

“I wish I could do better,” Cole told reporters after meeting privately with GOP appropriators Thursday morning. “These are not phony numbers. These are the numbers of the law, first of all.”

The new chair is expected to publicly announce each of the dozen totals Thursday, along with a markup agenda.

The totals Cole divulged Thursday are expected to change, as the Congressional Budget Office releases information on how housing receipts will affect federal cash and the cost of veteran health services, among other things.

“This is where we’re going to start,” Cole said. “We’re going to start with what’s written in the law.”

House appropriators are expected to begin fiscal 2025 markups next week with the measure that would fund military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs going first in subcommittee Tuesday, followed by a full committee markup Thursday. Cole said appropriators also hope to approve their slate of funding totals next week.

Top Senate appropriators are already discussing whether they need to exceed the funding limit set by last year’s debt deal for the Pentagon, arguing that it’s too low to keep pace with inflation and military readiness needs.

Two key House committees are expected to advance resolutions holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress on Thursday, including in an evening meeting pushed back to allow Trump allies to visit his trial in New York.

Both the Judiciary and Oversight committees are looking to hold Garland in contempt over the Justice Department’s rejection of their subpoenas for recordings of audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel on his handling of government documents.

The DOJ released transcripts of many hours of interviews between Biden and Robert Hur, but has remained consistent in rejecting attempts to garner the audio files.

Judiciary meets Thursday at 10 a.m. to consider the contempt resolution. Oversight’s meeting has been moved to 8 p.m. to accommodate some members’ travel to the Big Apple.

But first, Trump: A group of House Republicans are headed to New York City on Thursday for former President Donald Trump’s trial. Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) is expected to attend, along with Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and a handful of other allies.

Speaker Mike Johnson visited the trial earlier this week, and multiple senators have also made the trip. And as our colleague Kierra Frazier said Monday: “With [Trump] barred from publicly commenting on witness testimony in his hush money trial, he’s letting his Republican friends do the talking — and attacking — for him.”

Meanwhile, on the floor: The House is expected to vote Thursday on a bill aimed at compelling Biden to deliver heavy bombs to Israel amid its ongoing war with Hamas. The measure would freeze budgets for the offices of the Defense secretary, secretary of State and National Security Council if Biden doesn’t deliver the weapons being withheld, and it also includes language condemning “the Biden Administration’s decision to pause certain arms transfers to Israel.”

House Democratic leaders have whipped against the legislation, and the White House has also weighed in with a veto threat.

Despite Democratic divisions on the war in Gaza, those within the caucus only expect a small number of defectors to vote with Republicans.

Anthony Adragna contributed to this report. 

The House passed legislation Wednesday that would curb the ability of local D.C. judges to reduce sentences for younger criminals and bar local government officials from changing sentencing laws, thanks in part to the support of 18 Democrats.

The final tally was 225-181.

The bill, led by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), has little chance of becoming law. The Biden administration indicated it strongly opposed the measure even as it stopped short of formally threatening a veto.

Local D.C. government officials roundly condemned the measure, with Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton calling it a “radical, undemocratic and paternalistic bill” on the House floor.

Efforts to influence local Washington governance matters are not new this Congress. President Joe Biden signed a repeal in March 2023 of changes to the D.C. criminal code after it passed both chambers of Congress on a bipartisan basis.