Congress Stuck, White House Changes, Tariffs

The House leadership postponed the first committee’s actions, which had been scheduled for next week, designed to start the process of writing the Budget Reconciliation Bill, aka “the big, beautiful bill.” The stated goal is now to have the key committees start action the week of May 12, with the leadership goal remaining a House floor vote before the Memorial Day break. This is looking unlikely.

On the tariffs front, this week produced more questions than answers. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that one-trade agreement was done, but he couldn’t reveal the name of the other nation in the agreement because the un-named country was working with their internal politics. There also continued to be confusing signals on the status of talks with China, as some administration officials indicated that talks were taking place, and the Chinese government denied any talks between the two superpowers.

Additionally, this week the U.S. and Ukraine announced a deal on minerals and energy, and it appeared to give new weight to the relationship between the two allies. In the coming days, officials will be awaiting comments and action from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as the U.S.-Ukraine alliance takes on a new economic relationship.

The White House was a busy place on Thursday, as the president removed his National Security Advisor, former Congressman Mike Waltz and his top aide Alex Wong from their positions. The President nominated Mr. Waltz to be his Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will take on the additional role of National Security Advisor. If nothing else, this does demonstrate the confidence former Senator Rubio has developed with President Trump.

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