Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, is pushing an aggressive plan to build up the Pentagon budget, a blueprint he says is the “generational investment” needed to keep pace with worldwide threats.

As part of the sprawling plan unveiled Wednesday, the Mississippi Republican is proposing a $55 billion increase in defense spending above what President Joe Biden has requested, an amount that blows past caps on the Pentagon budget set last year under a bipartisan debt deal. Wicker aims to grow U.S. defense spending to a 5 percent share of GDP.

Wicker argues that world events, namely increasing cooperation between China and Russia, justify more money to make more missiles and air defenses, accelerate shipbuilding to grow the Navy fleet, and expand the Air Force’s aircraft inventory.

“We do not need to spend this much indefinitely — but we do need a short-term generational investment to help us prevent another world war,” Wicker argued in a New York Times op-ed outlining his plan.

“Regaining American strength will be expensive. But fighting a war — and worse, losing one — is far more costly,” he wrote. “We need to begin a national conversation today on how we achieve a peaceful, prosperous and American-led 21st century. The first step is a generational investment in the U.S. military.”

Wicker is expected to offer some form of his proposal as an amendment to the panel’s annual defense policy bill next month.

Uphill fight: The plan faces long odds. Some defense hawks are already backing the idea of exceeding budget caps, and it could pose a dilemma for some vulnerable Democrats. But any plans to bust the caps will have to navigate Democrats’ demands that any increase get a non-defense match.

The increase also busts spending caps in the debt deal. House Republicans stuck to an $895 billion defense limit in their version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

NDAA nexus: The proposal is emerging two weeks before Senate Armed Services kicks off closed-door debate on its version of the NDAA. Wicker has said he plans to propose a significant increase to the bill’s topline during the committee deliberations.

Shipbuilding: Wicker, whose state is home to Ingalls Shipbuilding’s production of amphibious warships and destroyers for the Navy, is also pressing to pour more money into shipyards to quickly build toward a 355-plus ship fleet.

His framework urged the Navy to lock in a multi-year deal to purchase several amphibious ships. And it recommends creating a large-scale industrial base program for warships. The plan also proposes boosting submarine shipyards to build three attack subs per year. And it calls for speeding up purchases of unmanned surface and undersea vessels.

Missiles: Wicker’s plan would also eliminate purchases of munitions that are below maximum manufacturing rates unless those programs are above total requirements levels. It also recommends alternative production lines to increase munition inventories in the short term.

Indo-Pacific: The proposal includes a fund to modernize Indo-Pacific Command’s command-and-control and make it easier to work with allies and partners. It also recommends “surging support for Taiwan and the Philippines — and accelerating their military modernization and buying then asymmetrical weapons.

It would also push for new nuclear-sharing agreements in the Indo-Pacific and bring U.S. tactical nuclear weapons back to the Korean Peninsula.

Aircraft: Wicker raises alarms about the Air Force inventory of aircraft, recommending buying at least 340 more planes over five years and blocking the service’s plan to scrap F-22 and F-15E fighters.

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday against two attempts to use the federal courts to force Congress to comply with access requests for records about official activities.

In a pair of unanimous opinions, the same three-judge D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel turned down journalist Jason Leopold’s effort to make public more than 100 Capitol Police directives in effect at the time of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, in addition to rejecting climate change skeptic Robert Schilling’s bid to force the House to reveal details of a committee’s alleged reliance on outside advocates during an investigation into the fossil fuel industry.

However, Judge Michelle Childs said in the Schilling ruling that outside parties might still be able to use the courts to obtain some congressional records more closely focused on official acts taken by committees or the full House.

Childs, an appointee of President Joe Biden, was joined in the rulings by Judges Nina Pillard and Robert Wilkins, both appointees of President Barack Obama.

While the appeals judges rejected Schilling’s claim outright, the ruling on Leopold’s case left the door open to him making a new bid for the Capitol riot-related records he sought.

Schilling’s lawyer, Matthew Hardin, noted the judges rejected the House’s argument that the Constitution’s speech or debate immunity entirely precluded this kind of lawsuit.

“This is very good news for advocates of transparency. The panel reaffirmed that the Common Law Right of Access applies to all three branches of government, and not merely to the executive branch,” Hardin told POLITICO.

“Mr. Schilling takes heart in knowing that records reflecting the ‘official decision’ of Congress — including its official decision to accept private staff, say, for purposes of targeting opponents of a particular agenda — appear to be subject to the Common Law Right of Access,” Hardin wrote.

Leopold worked for BuzzFeed News at the time he brought his suit in 2021 and now works for Bloomberg.

“The decision resolves several key legal issues in Mr. Leopold’s favor and provides him with an opportunity to refile. Mr. Leopold is reviewing his options, including whether to refile,” Leopold’s lawyer Jeffrey Light said via email.

A spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the rulings.

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday against two attempts to use the federal courts to force Congress to comply with access requests for records about official activities.

In a pair of unanimous opinions, the same three-judge D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel turned down journalist Jason Leopold’s effort to make public more than 100 Capitol Police directives in effect at the time of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, in addition to rejecting climate change skeptic Robert Schilling’s bid to force the House to reveal details of a committee’s alleged reliance on outside advocates during an investigation into the fossil fuel industry.

However, Judge Michelle Childs said in the Schilling ruling that outside parties might still be able to use the courts to obtain some congressional records more closely focused on official acts taken by committees or the full House.

Childs, an appointee of President Joe Biden, was joined in the rulings by Judges Nina Pillard and Robert Wilkins, both appointees of President Barack Obama.

While the appeals judges rejected Schilling’s claim outright, the ruling on Leopold’s case left the door open to him making a new bid for the Capitol riot-related records he sought.

Schilling’s lawyer, Matthew Hardin, noted the judges rejected the House’s argument that the Constitution’s speech or debate immunity entirely precluded this kind of lawsuit.

“This is very good news for advocates of transparency. The panel reaffirmed that the Common Law Right of Access applies to all three branches of government, and not merely to the executive branch,” Hardin told POLITICO.

“Mr. Schilling takes heart in knowing that records reflecting the ‘official decision’ of Congress — including its official decision to accept private staff, say, for purposes of targeting opponents of a particular agenda — appear to be subject to the Common Law Right of Access,” Hardin wrote.

Leopold worked for BuzzFeed News at the time he brought his suit in 2021 and now works for Bloomberg.

“The decision resolves several key legal issues in Mr. Leopold’s favor and provides him with an opportunity to refile. Mr. Leopold is reviewing his options, including whether to refile,” Leopold’s lawyer Jeffrey Light said via email.

A spokesperson for Speaker Mike Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the rulings.

Pro-Israel groups are going all-out in a bid to dethrone a member of the House’s liberal Squad, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), ahead of her Aug. 6 primary battle.

Data tracked by AdImpact show approximately $320,000 in ad reservations for cable, radio, satellite and other formats from the United Democracy Project — the independent expenditure arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — through next week.

Bush, who won her seat by defeating a long-time incumbent, has been heavily critical of the Israel government’s handling of the war in Gaza and demanded an immediate cease-fire of hostilities. She’s also faced legal scrutiny of her campaign spending on her security (though she denies any wrongdoing).

Bush, who first assumed office in Missouri’s most Democratic seat in 2021, faces St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell in what’s expected to be a competitive primary.

“UDP, AIPAC, and their extensive network of far-right billionaires, anti-abortion extremists, and GOP megadonors have been promising to spend millions in their effort to defeat me ever since they first bribed my opponent to enter this race,” Bush said in a statement.

“Unfortunately for them, organized people beats organized money, and our community is ready to show that St. Louis is not for sale.”

Former President Donald Trump officially endorsed Rep. Bob Good’s primary challenger Tuesday morning, a huge potential liability for the chair of the House Freedom Caucus.

In a social media post, Trump called Good “BAD FOR VIRGINIA AND BAD FOR THE USA.” It’s not a shocking development — Good has now endorsed Trump for president, but only after he initially backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, prompting ire from Trump loyalists. Trump called Good’s endorsement “too late” in the Tuesday post.

Meanwhile, Good’s GOP opponent, Virginia state senator John McGuire, has closely aligned himself with Trump. The former president touted him as “strong on crime, will protect our great Military/Vets, and will always defend our under siege Second Amendment” in Tuesday’s post.

Early voting is already underway in the heated primary, which is on June 18. The Virginia district is solidly Republican, so the GOP winner is expected to easily win the congressional seat.

And it’s not just Trump who has come out against Good. Some of the conservative’s own House GOP colleagues have backed McGuire, with a half dozen attending a recent fundraiser. And allies of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who Good voted to boot last fall, have also been working to boost McGuire.

During the Obama years, conservatives were all about forcing fodder for the national GOP base onto the Senate’s legislative fights. Recall former Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) push to throw Congress onto the Affordable Care Act exchanges, former Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) bid to exempt employers from Obamacare’s contraception coverage mandate — and, of course, the entire bid to defund the health care law.

But the new class on the Senate’s right flank has a different strategy. Take Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), for instance; he’s working with an unusual bipartisan coalition to go after credit card swipe fees, stirring up massive corporate opposition in the process. He wants the GOP to be known for more populist policy causes.

“This is a sign of who the new Republican Party is,” Marshall said. “We’re the party for hard-working Americans, and we’re not the party, necessarily, of Wall Street.”

He’s tried to attach his swipe fees plan to pretty much everything that moves in the Senate, including the recently passed FAA law — to no avail so far. But his move isn’t the only reorientation among conservatives toward a smaller-scale, more activist approach to using their leverage.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) tried to use the FAA bill to extend the expired Affordable Connectivity Program that helps lower-income Americans with Internet costs, introducing an amendment with Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) to pour billions of dollars into the program. He’s currently balancing that move with another bipartisan push for the railroad safety bill he wrote with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

“We’re going to keep on fighting for it and working on it. Obviously, rail is a bigger priority for me, and I think we’re going to have a vote on rail,” Vance said. “Sometimes when you care about something you have to put your foot down and say: I’m going to make it painful.”

A co-sponsor of that rail bill, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), tangled on the Senate floor this week with his own party over another bill that has nothing to do with cutting government or the culture wars: The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Hawley, Vance and Marshall are all in their first terms, making them good bellwethers for the Senate GOP’s future direction on policy.

Hawley and his radiation compensation allies have tried to stick an expansion of the program onto pretty much anything moving through Congress. It’s passed the Senate twice, on the NDAA and as a standalone, though the House hasn’t acted on it yet.

Lujan praised Hawley, often a foil for Democrats, for defending his constituents first, citing their unusual partnership as an “example of how maintaining relationships with your colleagues makes a difference, even though you may have a voting record that is 90 percent different.”

And Hawley isn’t above calling out reticent GOP colleagues — from Sen. Mitt Romney to Speaker Mike Johnson — to try to get the radiation compensation bill passed. The program expires on June 7, making it one of Congress’ only time-sensitive to-dos left in the coming months.

“It’s about doing right by people who are suffering, who are injured by the government: Working people and veterans … overwhelmingly,” Hawley said, adding that “you can see the cleavage between those who get it” and those who don’t in the GOP.

Of course, Republicans have not fully given up on using their Senate power to make a play for the base. They’re just more likely to do so on nominations these days. To wit: Vance has put holds on DOJ nominees over investigations into former President Donald Trump, and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) created an unprecedented backlog in military promotions last year over his opposition to the Pentagon’s abortion leave policy.

Two senior Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), are requesting a meeting with Chief Justice John Roberts “as soon as possible” amid reports that properties owned by Justice Samuel Alito displayed two flags with links to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“We urge you to immediately take appropriate steps to ensure that Justice Alito will recuse himself in any cases related to the 2020 presidential election and January 6th attack on the Capitol,” Durbin and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) wrote in a letter released Friday.

The pair vowed to continue pursuing legislation enacting an enforceable ethics code for the court unless “the Court and the Judicial Conference take meaningful action to address this ongoing ethical crisis.”

Durbin has resisted efforts to call both Alito and Roberts before his committee for a formal hearing. Alito blamed his wife for displaying an upside-down U.S. flag at his property in Virginia just days before the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021, as reported in The New York Times.

Chuck Schumer’s second attempt to advance a sweeping border package failed by a wider margin than the first time, with increased opposition among both Republicans and Democrats.

Senate campaign arms have already been hitting the other side on the predictable outcome, hoping to blame problems at the border on the opposing party. Biden administration officials have telegraphed that the president will soon take executive action to address border issues ahead of the November election.

The border policy package was the product of bipartisan negotiations between Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) last winter. It was originally tied to aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but foreign aid passed independent of border provisions after the first vote on the deal failed. Murphy reintroduced the border package as a standalone bill this month.

Several senators flipped to vote against the legislation this time around, including Sinema, Lankford and Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.).

If enacted, the legislation would have heightened the standards for individuals seeking asylum and sped up processing times for claims. It also would have imposed an automatic shutdown authority at the southern border if daily crossings crossed certain thresholds. The closure powers, specifically, are expected to be a part of the president’s coming executive actions.

But even Republicans who supported the deal last time around — including Lankford — lambasted Senate Democrats for putting the bill on the floor. They dubbed it a blatant campaign messaging tactic and have called on Biden to use his executive powers, while Schumer called it a bipartisan solution to an issue both parties have expressed concern over.

“To my Republican colleagues, you wanted this border bill. … It’s time to show you’re serious about solving the problem,” the majority leader said ahead of the vote on Thursday.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell originally backed the border policy negotiations before coming out against the bill. He blasted the gambit from Senate Democrats on Thursday, as did many other Republicans.

“The solution is a president who’s willing to exercise the authority, to use the tools he already has,” McConnell said. “If Senate Democrats wanted to start fixing the crisis tomorrow, they would be urging the president to do exactly that.”