President Donald Trump endorsed Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s (R-Fla.) resolution to allow proxy voting for expectant mothers in Congress — but signaled he isn’t interested in going to the mat for the change.

“I don’t know why it’s controversial,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, according to a pool report.

The support for Luna’s push comes after Trump spoke with the member of Congress on Wednesday. Luna told NewsNation Wednesday that “the president assured that this would get resolved.”

The proxy vote fight has stalled Speaker Mike Johnson’s ambitious plan to pass the “big, beautiful” budget bill, after a handful of Republicans joined Democrats to reject Johnson’s moves to block Luna’s proposal. Johnson repeated his opposition on Wednesday, but said there “may be a path” to get the House unjammed.

Trump said Thursday that he’s in favor of the resolution. But he stressed that the decision rests with Johnson.

“I’m going to let the speaker make the decision, but I like the idea,” Trump added.

After successfully engineering a rare rebuke of President Donald Trump, Senate Democrats want to do it again: They’re eyeing a new measure that could splinter Republicans and potentially undo the sweeping tariffs Trump rolled out Wednesday.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who led the push to undo Trump’s Canada tariffs that won approval Wednesday, said it was “likely” that Democrats would move forward with legislation taking aim at the new, more sweeping levies. The vote, he said, wouldn’t occur until after the Senate returns from a two-week recess slated to start on April 11.

One of the laws Trump used to levy the latest tariffs, the National Emergencies Act, allows Congress to quickly debate and vote on a disapproval resolution that would effectively cancel the tariffs. But actually doing so faces major obstacles: Not only would the Senate have to act, but the GOP-controlled House would have to approve the same measure. Trump could then still veto it, forcing a two-thirds-majority override vote.

Democrats are still poring through Trump’s latest round of sweeping tariffs to determine which ones they could potentially target for cancellation. But Kaine said he believed support for rolling back the new tariffs will only grow with time. Four Republicans joined Democrats on Wednesday’s vote, and he predicted a “larger universe” of support for the forthcoming measure.

“I think people need to go home and hear what their constituents are telling them, so I think having it timed so that it comes up over recess is the right time,” Kaine said.

Separately, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York — the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee — said Wednesday he would introduce a similar measure. Speaker Mike Johnson led an effort to block a vote on a Meeks-led disapproval resolution targeting the Canada tariffs last month and could do so again for the new round of tariffs.

The Senate Banking Committee on Thursday approved President Donald Trump’s pick for a new top Wall Street regulator and other key financial nominees who will help carry out his administration’s deregulatory agenda.

On a 13-11 vote, along party lines, the panel advanced the nomination of Paul Atkins to be chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins is a former SEC commissioner who has worked as a consultant to many of the biggest financial firms over the last 16 years. He has indicated he would take a lighter-touch regulatory approach to cryptocurrency markets, enforcement, and the rules around how companies raise money in the U.S.

The committee similarly voted along party lines to approve the nomination of Jonathan Gould as the comptroller of the currency, a top regulator of national banks. Gould, currently a partner at the law firm Jones Day, was the agency’s chief counsel during the first Trump administration.

Republicans have cheered Trump’s picks as they seek to turn the page on Biden-era regulators that were loathed by many in the financial industry.

But Democrats on the committee, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, largely opposed Trump’s nominees, citing concerns they would weaken guardrails on Wall Street institutions and take a lax approach to policing financial institutions.

One of Trump’s picks for a senior Treasury Department role garnered bipartisan support, however. Six Democrats joined with the committee’s Republicans in supporting Luke Pettit’s nomination to be Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial institutions, a position focused on financial regulations and policy. Pettit is a former Senate Banking Committee staffer who previously worked at the investment firm Bridgewater Associates and as a senior policy analyst at the Federal Reserve.

Declan Harty and Katy O’Donnell contributed to this report.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s chief of staff pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he drove under the influence and operated a vehicle while impaired on the night of President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.

Hayden Haynes appeared by videoconference for a hearing before D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Heide Herrmann, accompanied by prominent white collar attorney Stuart Sears. Sears has previously represented Steele Dossier source Igor Danchenko (who was acquitted of charges brought by special counsel John Durham), Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller and Mueller investigation witness Sam Patten.

Sears did most of the talking Thursday, although Haynes identified himself to the judge at the beginning of the brief court session. According to the U.S. Capitol Police officer who arrested Haynes early on the morning of March 5, the Johnson aide could not complete a sobriety test after twice striking a black Chevy Suburban with his white Tesla sedan.

Herrmann permitted Haynes to remain on release while his charges are pending, but required him to submit to a drug test and drug/alcohol assessment and ordered him to refrain from driving after taking any drugs or drinking alcohol. His next court date is next month.

Haynes is being prosecuted by the office of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb.

Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas has launched his campaign to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire as the party looks to defend her seat in the blue-leaning state.

Pappas, in a two-minute launch video, said he would fight to “get our country back on track” while “working for everyone.” He also took shots at Republicans’ proposal to cut Medicaid funding and at billionaire presidential adviser Elon Musk.

Pappas, 44, is in his fourth term. He entered the race Thursday morning after a 10-county listening tour. He has a formal launch event slated for this evening in Manchester.

Democrats are dealing with an increasingly difficult map to defend after a wave of retirements that also include Michigan Sen. Gary Peters and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith.

First-term Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.) is also looking at the seat. Former Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.) had said she would consider a bid if Pappas didn’t run. On the Republican side, former Sen. Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts but now lives in New Hampshire, and former Gov. Chris Sununu are mulling campaigns.

Pappas’ decision also sets off a scramble for his seat in the more competitive of New Hampshire’s two House districts. Maura Sullivan, a vice chair of the state Democratic Party who ran for the 1st District seat in the race Pappas ultimately won in 2018, is seriously considering making another run for it.

Senate Republicans have a new budget blueprint to jump-start President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, and Majority Leader John Thune wants to adopt it by Saturday. It’s looking like he’ll make it happen, but things aren’t so clear in the House.

Here’s a rundown of where things stand:

Senators are digesting the budget plan. While we’re not seeing sufficient defections to tank it, some key players have questions. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, for example, says she’s undecided on a key aspect of the proposal — the “current policy baseline” idea that would treat an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts as costing nothing — and is concerned that the House’s budget guidelines would force Medicaid cuts.

What’s in it? In addition to making tax cut extensions costless, it would let Senate Finance draft another $1.5 trillion of tax relief. It would also green-light a $5 trillion debt-ceiling hike that GOP lawmakers hope will get them through the next election (though Sen. Rand Paul wants to force a vote to shrink that). Senate committees would have to cut the deficit by only a few billion dollars, while the House would have to do it by $1.5 trillion — underscoring the lingering political divides between Republicans in the two chambers.

Some Republicans believe Trump might be needed to seal the deal in the Senate.

“He had to do it for the House budget,” Sen. John Kennedy said. “He may have to do it for the Senate. But that wouldn’t be anything new.”

You will probably not be surprised to learn that the outlook is less rosy in the House.

Though Speaker Mike Johnson said he plans to push through the budget next week, he’s seeing defections over the Senate’s changes to what the House adopted in February. It comes after he lost control of the House floor this week in a clash with fellow Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna over proxy voting for new parents.

House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington ripped the Senate’s plan as fiscally irresponsible and predicted it wouldn’t fly with his colleagues.

Trump praised the Senate budget during his Rose Garden trade event Wednesday and later in a post on Truth Social, urging Republicans to “UNIFY.” He attempted to smooth out concerns from the Senate’s deficit hawks in a meeting Wednesday morning.

Adding to the pressure is rising Republican anxiety about the midterms after Tuesday’s landslide loss in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race and underperformance Florida’s special elections for two House seats. Some Republicans, including vulnerable members like Sen. Thom Tillis, are now cautioning that Trump’s shock-and-awe governing strategy could backfire at the ballot box and are calling for a major recalibration.

One bright spot for Trump and Republicans here: Johnson just grew his majority by two after swearing in Florida Reps. Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis Wednesday night. He can now lose up to three Republicans on a party-line vote.

What else we’re watching:

— Tariff action: As Trump rattled financial markets with his “Liberation Day” tariff announcement Wednesday, four Senate Republicans voted with Democrats to end his trade war with Canada. Now, Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks wants to try to force a House vote on rejecting Trump’s latest slate of tariffs.

— Johnson fights to unjam the House: The speaker signaled Wednesday evening that he may be close to a breakthrough in the proxy-voting clash with Luna that paralyzed the House this week and threatened progress on Trump’s agenda. While Johnson said he still opposes Luna’s effort to allow proxy voting for new parents, he’s been in frequent contact with her behind the scenes over potential legislative options to resolve the situation.

Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill, Brian Faler and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congressional Republicans are mulling the sale of some public lands to help pay for a massive bill to enact President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, according to lawmakers aware of the discussions.

House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman said one concept under review would involve selling some lands around Western cities or national parks to build more housing.

“It would just be in areas where you can’t get affordable housing, like for gateway communities,” said Westerman in an interview, “so you could actually have people to work in the national parks, maybe around some big metropolitan areas in the West.”

It’s still far from guaranteed this will make it into a final package, however, with more than one GOP lawmaker saying it would be a nonstarter.

Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines has already made his objections known to leaders, said an aide in a text message: “Senator Daines has never and will never support the sale of public lands.”

Another Montana Republican, Rep. Ryan Zinke — who served as Interior secretary in Trump’s first term — said he has also told House leadership public land sales are a red line for him.

“I have made clear: There are some things I won’t do,” he said. “I will never bend on the Constitution, and I won’t bend on selling our public lands.”

Democrats are also due to create a political headache for Republicans if the GOP pursues such proposals.

“If they succeed, Donald Trump and Elon Musk will sell off your right to access the places you know and love: The place you first learned to fish or harvested your first elk,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said in a statement. “The campground your family goes to on long weekends. The trail you hike to clear your head. The site that was sacred to your ancestors and is now sacred to you.”

Republicans are talking about this idea at a time when lawmakers are scrambling to find big savings and revenue generators for the party-line bill they want to pass through reconciliation in the coming months.

Speaker Mike Johnson is digging in against allowing proxy voting for the House’s new parents, heightening a standoff with members of his own party that has frozen legislative action in the chamber.

“While I understand the pure motivations of the few Republican proxy vote advocates, I simply cannot support the change they seek,” Johnson said in a Wednesday post on X.

The speaker is in a serious bind after suffering a stunning defeat over a procedural vote Tuesday, prompting him to send the House home until next Monday. Johnson’s initial effort to block a vote on a proxy-voting measure from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) failed after eight fellow Republicans joined her and every Democrat.

Luna was on the cusp of forcing a vote on her bill under a discharge petition, which can circumvent leadership’s control of the floor.

If Johnson attempts a similar move next week, Luna and several of her GOP allies insist they will vote against any effort to reopen the floor. The speaker’s leadership circle, meanwhile, says if he doesn’t try to kill Luna’s petition, House Freedom Caucus hard-liners who oppose proxy voting will themselves defeat any attempt to get House business moving as usual.

Johnson’s circle is aware of the optics of opposing accommodations for new mothers while also upholding their pro-life values and not risking electoral blowback ahead of the midterms.

“As the father of a large family, I know firsthand the difficulty and countless sacrifices that come with balancing family life and service in Congress,” Johnson wrote Wednesday. “New mothers and all young parents face real challenges in this regard. We truly empathize with them.”

But he said he had an obligation to “defend and uphold the Constitution and the integrity of this institution, which has stood the test of time for more than two centuries.”