Senators used a closed-door briefing with law enforcement officials Tuesday to push for more funding for lawmaker security in the wake of the past weekend’s fatal shootings in Minnesota.

Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) were among the attendees making the case for additional resources to protect elected officials, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — underscoring the scope of the bipartisan appeal to representatives with the U.S. Capitol Police and Senate sergeant at arms conducting the briefing.

“The violence and threats against elected officials, including people in the Senate, has dramatically increased, and that means we need more protection, we need more money,” Schumer told reporters following the meeting.

Asked if he was suggesting there ought to be access to security details for senators going about their business outside the Capitol, Schumer demurred but said there are “lots of things that need to be done; [law enforcement] discussed it in some detail but given the increase in threats we need more protection for senators.”

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said after the meeting that she expects Congress will need to increase Capitol Police funding but indicated that lawmakers did not get a specific number Tuesday for how much money security experts think the department needs.

Prior to the weekend’s fatal shootings and renewed threats against members of Congress, the Capitol Police had asked appropriators for $967.8 million for fiscal 2026 — a 22 percent boost over the current funding level, which was set in fiscal 2024. With lawmakers calling for even more resources, the budget for the relatively small force could top $1 billion for the first time in coming years.

Updated needs for the department could also come into force next week, when Mike Sullivan, the incoming Capitol Police chief, is sworn in and begins his official duties.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has some “big beautiful” conflicts to resolve — and fast — if he wants to pass his party’s tax-and-spending package next week as planned.

Here’s a look at the biggest fires Thune needs to put out to meet his deadline, some of which are newly raging following Senate Finance’s release of long-awaited bill text:

MEDICAID JITTERS — “Medicaid moderates” are reeling after Republicans on the key committee proposed lowering the provider tax, from 6 percent to 3.5 percent by 2031 for states that have expanded Medicaid offerings under the Affordable Care Act. Several states rely heavily on this tax to help fund their Medicaid programs.

Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), were already rebelling against the House-passed megabill’s move to find savings by freezing the provider tax. Now, Hawley is saying he’s “alarmed” that Senate Finance would go even further and that the plan “needs work.”

“I don’t know why we would defund rural hospitals in order to pay for Chinese solar panels,” he told reporters Monday evening, in a nod to Senate Republicans’ plan to ease some of the House GOP’s deep cuts to clean-energy tax credits (more on that below).

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also expressed concern about the provider-tax change, though she declined to elaborate as she left the closed-door meeting Monday night where Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) was briefing GOP senators on his proposal. But Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said he doesn’t think the plan would go far enough in slashing spending on the safety-net program, suggesting senators should reconsider including a provision that would scale back the federal government’s share of paying for states’ Medicaid expansion.

Expect this to be a topic of discussion when GOP senators meet with CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz on Tuesday during the conference’s weekly lunch.

HOLD THE SALT — Blue-state House Republicans are seething as senators continue to haggle down their state-and-local-tax deduction cap. GOP senators included the current $10,000 deduction limit — rather than the $40,000 the House passed — as a placeholder in the draft bill text Senate Finance released Monday, giving space for talks to continue.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) declared the Senate’s proposal “dead on arrival” in the House. But Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who’s been backchanneling with SALT Republicans including Lawler, insisted to reporters that the deduction is “fully open for negotiating.” Thune also told reporters Monday that senators are “prepared to have discussions” amongst themselves to “figure out a landing spot.”

LESS GUTTING FOR GREEN CREDITS — Senate Republicans are extending some of the House’s aggressive phase-out dates for credits benefitting “baseload” energy technologies like nuclear, geothermal and hydropower, leaving one GOP proponent of the incentives, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), “generally satisfied.” They are still making significant cuts to solar, wind and electric vehicle incentives in Democrats’ 2022 climate law, but that’s not going to satisfy conservatives who want a full repeal of what they call the “Green New Scam.”

House Freedom Caucus members, who pushed for deep cuts to the green credits in order to get behind the megabill in their chamber last month, could fight the Senate’s slower roll. One member, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), declared on X he “will not vote for this.”

Dive deeper into the long list of other Senate Finance megabill changes.

What else we’re watching:

— Lawmaker safety after Minnesota shootings: Senators have a classified security briefing with the chamber’s sergeant at arms and Capitol Police this morning, where the question of resources for lawmaker safety could come up. Across the Capitol, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is asking Speaker Mike Johnson to increase funding for members’ security as more elected officials learn they were potential targets of the man suspected of the shootings in Minnesota.

— Senate’s first major crypto overhaul: The Senate is set this afternoon to pass landmark cryptocurrency legislation, one of Trump’s biggest policy priorities outside the megabill. The bipartisan bill would create a regulatory framework for digital tokens known as stablecoins that are pegged to the value of the dollar. But the legislation faces a murky future in the House.

— Gabbard, Ratcliffe on the Hill: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and NSA acting Director Lt. Gen. William Hartman will testify on behalf of the president’s fiscal 2026 budget request for intelligence during a closed Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

Jordain Carney, Brian Faler and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah was confronted by a Senate colleague Monday over his social media post that blamed the Minnesota shootings over the weekend that killed a former Democratic legislative leader on “Marxists.”

Democratic Sen. Tina Smith, a friend of murdered state Rep. Melissa Hortman, spoke to the Utah Republican in a hallway off the Senate floor during evening votes.

“I wanted him to know how much pain that caused me and the other people in my state, and I think around the country, who think that this was a brutal attack,” Smith told reporters afterward. “I don’t know whether Senator Lee thought fully through what it was — you have to ask him — but I needed him to hear from me directly what impact I think his cruel statement had on me, his colleague.”

Lee on Sunday morning posted two messages on his X account that appeared to associate the perpetrator with political causes on the left. “This is what happens,” one said, “When Marxists don’t get their way.” Another included a reference to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

A spokesperson for Lee did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lee’s personal X account, @BasedMikeLee, has increasingly become a forum for the senator’s sharply partisan and sometimes conspiratorial views.

Authorities have not commented on the motives behind the killings of Hortman and her husband, as well as the shootings of another state lawmaker and his wife. But law enforcement representatives say suspect Vance Boelter targeted exclusively Democratic officials, and friends and former colleagues told the AP that he held “deeply religious and politically conservative views.”

Smith and fellow Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar both knew Hortman and have said they were dismayed by Lee’s X posts. Lee’s office separately circulated a more staid statement “condemning this senseless violence, and praying for the victims and their families.”

“I think, too often in the Senate, we talk to one another through other people, and I wanted him to hear from me directly about what impact,” Smith said after her conversation. “I hope that my talking with him will cause him to think more about the hateful things that he has been putting out on his personal X account that really should have no place in our public discourse.”

Asked about Lee’s reaction, Smith said, “Honestly, he seemed a little surprised to be confronted.”

Top House Democrats asked Speaker Mike Johnson Monday to increase the amount of funding available for lawmakers’ security following the weekend shootings of Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota.

“We strongly urge you to immediately direct the Sergeant at Arms to take all necessary steps to protect House members throughout the country,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter obtained by POLITICO. “At the same time, it is imperative that we substantially increase the Member Representational Allowance (MRA) to support additional safety and security measures in every single office.”

The MRA is the funding each lawmaker receives to pay for staff salaries, security expenses and other operations costs. Boosting that fund could allow members to invest more in security without cutting into payroll, though any increase would require an act of Congress.

Under current policy, House lawmakers can use taxpayer funds to buy bulletproof vests and some other security equipment, as well as to hire security personnel for events such as town halls, to guard their district offices during business hours, and to accompany them on official business.

A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After the 2017 shooting at a House Republican practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, paying for security was deemed “an ordinary and necessary reimbursable expense,” according to the Committee on House Administration and the Congressional Handbook. Threats against members of Congress have spiked in recent years, and Capitol Police established satellite offices outside of Washington in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection in part to respond to the threats.

Lawmakers have been on edge since the attack amid revelations that other Democratic lawmakers including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) and Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) were named on lists connected to the suspect in the murders of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband.

Jeffries and Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said that member safety had to be an “area of common ground” with Republicans, citing “assassination attempts” that have affected members of both parties.

“We must act to protect each other and preserve this great American institution,” they wrote.

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin was named among the Democratic politicians included on a list found in the vehicle of the man accused of a politically-motivated attack on two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses on Saturday.

Law enforcement notified Baldwin on Monday that shooting suspect Vance Boelter, 57, referenced her in his writings. Boelter was apprehended on Sunday after a statewide manhunt and charged with killing Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as injuring state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife in a shooting hours earlier.

“Senator Baldwin was informed by law enforcement that she was included on the alleged shooter’s list of names,” Baldwin spokesperson Eli Rosen said in a statement. “She is grateful for law enforcement’s swift action to keep the community safe and remains focused on the things that matter most here: honoring the legacy and life of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, praying for the other victims who are fighting for their lives, and condemning this abhorrent, senseless political violence.”

On Monday, the Department of Justice announced plans to file six federal charges against Boelter, including two counts of murder using a firearm. Local prosecutors said on Monday they plan to file additional first-degree murder charges against Boelter.

Joseph Thompson, Acting US Attorney for Minnesota, said in a press conference on Monday that Boelter’s car contained notebooks with a list of more than 45 state and federal elected officials, including Hortman and Hoffman and the names of two other Minnesota lawmakers whose homes Boelter visited on Saturday, according to law enforcement.

Thompson said prosecutors are still reviewing evidence to explain why politicians were included on Boelter’s list.

“Obviously, his primary motivation was to go and murder people,” he said. “They were all elected officials. They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it’s just way too speculative for anyone that’s reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues.”

Baldwin mourned the deaths of Melissa and Mark Hortman in a statement following the shooting on Saturday and decried the use of violence to solve political conflicts.

“Stunned, terrified, and heartbroken just begin to describe this horror,” Baldwin wrote on X on Saturday. “My heart goes out to the victims, their loved ones, and all our midwestern neighbors. Political violence like this is not who we are as a country. It’s on all of us to condemn and stop it at every turn.”

Senate Finance is expected to reveal at least some of its tweaks to the House-passed “big beautiful bill” Monday, but the panel’s text will likely include placeholders for key Medicaid and tax provisions as negotiations continue.

Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) will brief Senate Republicans on his proposals around 6 p.m., three people granted anonymity to share the unannounced plans told POLITICO.

Expect the state-and-local-tax deduction to be one of the TBDs as GOP senators continue to hash out how much they want to roll back the House’s $40,000 SALT cap.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune teased a “compromise position” on SALT in a pre-taped “Fox News Sunday” interview. He said there “isn’t a high level of interest” among senators to follow the House in quadrupling the $10,000 limit that’s in law today.

Thune insisted that President Donald Trump’s tax priorities — no taxes on tips and overtime — will be “incorporated” in the Senate’s version of the megabill, despite Senate Republicans’ desire to trim them in favor of making business tax incentives permanent.

A person granted anonymity to discuss the negotiations tells POLITICO that Senate Republicans still plan to make those business tax provisions permanent — a win for Thune, Crapo and other Finance members.

With the Senate out Thursday and Friday, this shortened week will be key for sending the bill to Trump’s desk by July 4. The Senate parliamentarian will have bipartisan discussions with committees, and staffers anticipate she will start issuing rulings now that nearly every committee has released text.

A few other megabill developments: 

— Trump and Rand Paul talk it out: Sen. Rand Paul told NBC News that the two spoke Saturday, after Trump spent weeks attacking the Kentucky Republican for signaling he’d vote against the bill. Paul, who has objected to the bill’s debt ceiling increase, said that he told Trump he’s “not an absolute no” and that the two are “trying to get to a better place in our conversations.” But he also indicated that Republicans are spending little energy in really trying to win him over.

— What Mark Meadows is doing behind the scenes: The former House Freedom Caucus chair and one-time Trump chief of staff is operating as a sounding board for conservatives as they try to hang onto some of their biggest priorities in the megabill. Mark Meadows huddled with House and Senate hard-liners last week and is in regular contact with House Freedom Caucus members.

“Mark is trying to help get a deal done,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) says.

What else we’re watching:

— Where the megabill Medicaid negotiations end up: Senate GOP leaders are getting some outside help as they try to find a landing spot on the megabill’s Medicaid revamp and the provider tax, which several states use to help fund their Medicaid programs. Hospital associations from 13 states sent a letter to Thune and Crapo, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO, urging them to “move forward with the carefully negotiated Medicaid provider tax-related and Medicaid directed payment program provisions in the House-passed budget reconciliation bill.”

— Senator security briefing: Senators will receive a classified security briefing Tuesday morning from the chamber’s sergeant at arms and the Capitol Police after a Saturday shooting killed and injured Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses. The internal announcement Sunday from Thune about the bipartisan briefing came after GOP senators and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer requested one.

Mia McCarthy and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee want their chair, Sen. Rand Paul, to hold a hearing on the Trump administration’s handling of the Los Angeles demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement and deportation activities.

In a new letter obtained by POLITICO, the Democrats are calling on the Kentucky Republican to request that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testify before lawmakers regarding the administration’s response to the ongoing protests in the L.A. area. President Donald Trump greeted the crowds protesting his immigration policies by ordering the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines — with California Gov. Gavin Newsom calling the use of military force “purposefully inflammatory” and the California state government quick to file a legal challenge.

It also comes a day after California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was shoved to the floor and handcuffed by Noem’s security detail when he sought to interrupt a press conference the DHS secretary had convened to discuss the ongoing demonstrations.

“[T]he President has harmed public safety by federalizing a state’s National Guard against the wishes of the governor and sending them into a city whose law enforcement is already dealing with the protests,” the Democratic senators wrote to Paul. “We therefore call on you to immediately hold an oversight hearing with Administration officials … to provide answers regarding the administration’s dangerous and intentionally provocative actions.”

A spokesperson for Paul did not immediately return a request for comment, but it’s highly unlikely Republicans will engage with the Democrats’ ask: GOP senators are largely sympathetic to Trump’s immigration agenda and aren’t expected to be further moved by the incident involving Padilla, whom many Republicans accused of performing political theater.

Senate Homeland Committee ranking member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) has separately asked to speak with Noem by phone after the episode with Padilla, according to a Peters aide, but said Noem has not yet responded.

Rep. Cory Mills has some new ink — with a congressional theme.

The Florida Republican recently added a dramatic tattoo to his arm showing the Capitol building surrounded by clouds and light and the words “We the People” in red-and-black lettering, according to a picture of the tattoo POLITICO obtained.

Asked why he got the tattoo, he said in a text message: “As a constitutional republic our nation is founded upon our Christian Judea faith. I believe we are in spiritual warfare and need to lean on faith more now than ever. My upper arm is Archangel Michael fighting the serpent. Our Congress is meant to protect ‘We The People’ as a nation who fights good vs evil. I feel they both are meaningful and have importance to my beliefs.”

Mills is a military veteran who recently was in the news for allegations that he assaulted a woman in February. He told POLITICO back then that he and the alleged victim denied that any assault took place, and he was never charged by police.

He made a fortune in the private security business, selling arms and riot-control gear and providing law enforcement training and security consulting in the U.S. and around the world, including selling tear gas that was used against Black Lives Matter demonstrators and purchasing a company that had sold rubber bullets to Hong Kong to crack down on protesters.

The ranks of tattooed members has grown in recent years, including Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who got a rose insignia at age 80 last year.