Don’t worry guys. I’m sure passing appropriations bills, NDAA, and the Farm Bill will be much easier than this mining bill the House just killed.

The House just adopted a Democratic motion to recommit a mining bill.

The 118th Congress really does have it all.

NEW: The U.S. military-built pier off the coast of Gaza will be up and running as early as this weekend, and aid is expected to begin flowing into the enclave soon afterward, according to a U.S. official and a European official. w Alex Ward

politico.com/news/2024/05/0…

Asked about struggles with amphibious group deployments, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro tells House Armed Services: 'There's no queston in my mind that we should've been buying more amphibious ships earlier.'

(Navy and Marines split last year on amphib left out of the budget.)

House Defense Appropriations Chair Ken Calvert says the subcommittee received a notification last week of a Nunn-McCurdy breach on the Air Force's MH-139 Grey Wolf helicopter program. It follows a cost breach for the Sentinel ICBM program for the Air Force earlier this year.

NEW: House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers says NDAA will stick an $895B topline set by the debt deal, same as Biden's budget.

'We're going to try and draft up a bill based on this FRA and then see what's left on the table that is essential' Rogers said. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2024/0…

More to the point, he could’ve just said he’s a former House member. Former members keep their floor privileges.

Bonus points if he uses his member pin from when he served in the House 30 years ago.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will move to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, The Associated Press has learned, a historic shift to generations of American drug policy that could have wide ripple-effects across the country.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson walks onto the House floor during this mornings vote series. He tells the Capitol Police at the door that he’s a former senator.

Turner asks Austin if Russia is developing an anti-sattelite weapon with nuclear capabilities. Austin doesn't want to discuss it publicly. Turner knocks the Biden admin for not declassifying info like he sought.

'I believe that this is the Cuban Missile Crisis in space' he says.

Mike Turner, who made a cryptic statement in Feb about a threat revealed to be about Russian nuclear capabilities in space, asks Austin about the impact of detonating a nuke in space.

'It would have devastating consequences on a lot of our capabilities in space,' Austin says.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's opening statement at the House Armed Services Committee is interrupted by a pro-Palestine protester (screenshot from just before she stood up). Joint Chiefs Chairman CQ Brown was interrupted a couple minutes later.

BREAKING — HOUSE DEM LEADERSHIP says they’ll vote to table ⁦Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸⁩’s motion to vacate if she offers it.

House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers has tapped Don Bacon to chair the Cyber, Information Technologies, and Innovation subcommittee, succeeding Mike Gallagher.

Bacon just wrapped up a task force on military quality of life. Unlike most others, he had no other chairmanships.

Nice scoop from Joseph Gedeon:

A coalition of lawyers domestic and abroad — including at least 20 that work in the Biden administration — are calling on President Joe Biden to halt military aid to Israel, arguing that its actions in Gaza do not comply with U.S. and international…

On Friday, Connor O'Brien and Lee Hudson did a great deep dive on the issue for POLITICO Pro, and first reported that the National Governors Association had begun circulating the letter for signatures subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2024/0…

NEW: Governors from 48 of 50 states came out against Biden's plan to shift Air National Guard space units to the Space Force, which they argue usurps their authority over Guard.

The list includes Dems from big space states: Newsom, Hochul, Polis, etc. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2024/0…

NEWS: Governors of 48 states and 5 territories are opposing the Biden administration's push to move space units from the Air National Guard to the Space Force, signaling widespread resistance to the plan outside of Washington subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2024/0… Connor O'Brien POLITICO Pro

I attended this event last night (I have before, it's always a great event) — but found it weird that someone right inside the door took these flyers from everyone who walked in with one.

Glad they had stickers so I could wear mine in solidarity with Washingtonian 🌸 reporters!

With a shutdown averted and foreign aid approved over the past month, some top lawmakers are cracking the door open to another feat: boosting the Pentagon budget.

The latest w/Joe Gould politico.com/news/2024/04/2…