Good afternoon! House and Senate Committees continue hearings with cabinet secretaries and senior Administration officials this week regarding the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget request. In the Senate, Republicans advanced a budget resolution intended to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end the 70-day shutdown. The House Appropriations Committee subcommittees approved FY27 appropriations bills allocating funding for agriculture, food, and financial services programs. House Republican leadership released a bill providing a long-term extension for Section 702 surveillance authority that mirrors previous iterations. On Thursday, President Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to “shoot and kill” any Iranian boat deploying mines in the Strait of Hormuz as the waterway remains effectively shut down for the eighth straight week.
WHITE HOUSE
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U.S. and Iran tensions grew over the Strait of Hormuz with both sides maintaining blockades of the critical waterway, creating a standoff with no new peace talks on the horizon. President Trump has ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot any boat deploying mines in the strait, while the military has intercepted two oil supertankers that tried to evade U.S. efforts to prevent passage to and from Iran’s ports.
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According to the Pentagon, U.S. forces boarded a “sanctioned stateless vessel” transporting oil from Iran in the Indian Ocean overnight. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard attacked three vessels Wednesday, ensuring that the strait, a key transit point for global energy supplies including oil and gas, remains closed.
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The incidents came after Trump indefinitely extended a ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday evening, stating that he is awaiting Tehran’s response before talks about a formal peace deal resume. Iran has said it will not take part in negotiations while a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports remains in place, and Iran’s foreign ministry has claimed that its armed forces are ready to respond to further threats.
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Several Trump Administration cabinet secretaries and senior agency officials testified before House and Senate committees to defend and support the administration’s FY27 budget request. Officials testifying included Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
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The Justice Department is ending a controversial investigation into building renovation cost overruns by the Federal Reserve, potentially clearing a path to confirmation for Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s pick to be the next chair of the central bank. Jerome Powell’s term as chair is scheduled to expire on May 15. Warsh, who appeared before the Senate Banking Committee this week, enjoys broad support among GOP lawmakers, but a key Republican senator, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, vowed to block his confirmation unless the DOJ investigation was dropped.
- The U.S. Justice Department reclassified state-regulated marijuana from Schedule I, the same federal category as heroin and LSD, to the less strictly controlled Schedule III. The move stops short of fully legalizing the drug for recreational use nationwide.
SENATE
- Senators approved a multi-billion-dollar blueprint for long-term immigration enforcement funding Thursday morning, advancing Republicans’ agenda to end the months-long shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Senators voted 50-48 to adopt a budget resolution (S.Con.Res.33) aimed at allocating about $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky joined with Democrats to oppose the measure. The vote is a key procedural hurdle in Republicans’ two-track effort to restore spending for DHS, which has operated without base funding since February.
HOUSE
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Republicans on the House Appropriations Agriculture-FDA Subcommittee advanced a spending bill Thursday morning that would cut approximately 3% of spending in a party line vote. This bill would provide $675 million below the enacted Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) levels for USDA. The full House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hold a two-day markup of the bill next week before it can go to the House floor for a vote. The House’s funding plans are a much smaller cut than the 19% the White House requested to reduce funding for nutrition, agriculture research, and farm services programs.
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House Appropriations Committee lawmakers voted 34-28 to advance the Financial Services and General Government funding bill. It includes a top funding level of $25.3 billion for the next fiscal year, $1 billion less than FY26 funding. Republicans proposed funding the IRS at $10.2 billion for FY27, a reduction of $11.2 billion compared to FY26. The legislation also provides $2 billion for the SEC, $123 million less than last year’s funding legislation—and cuts $86 million from the District of Columbia’s budget. The GSA Federal Buildings Fund would see a $49 million boost from FY26 to $9.74 billion under this bill.
- Speaker Mike Johnson (R.-LA) has unveiled the latest proposal that would renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). His bill, introduced Thursday, is largely unchanged from a previous plan which failed in a series of overnight votes earlier this month. FISA is set to expire on April 30. The House Rules Committee meets Monday morning on the Speaker’s proposal, the first step toward advancing this renewal bill toward a vote.
