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On Politics

Tue Jun 23 2026

Zachary Schermele | Congressional Correspondent

@zachschermele

Hello readers and welcome back to On Politics. Zach Schermele here, USA TODAY's congressional correspondent. It's Tuesday, and Senate Republicans up here on the Hill are prepping for a major tête-à-tête with President Trump tomorrow. Let's get into it.

Coming to grips

Prepare for sparks to fly. The president will be making his way over to Capitol Hill tomorrow for a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans. The relationship between Trump and that key GOP bloc has been strained – to put it mildly – as of late.

Abolishing the filibuster, passing the SAVE America Act, firing the Senate parliamentarian – the president wants all of it. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune has consistently argued, as recently as this morning, that he speaks for his conference when he says much of that isn't possible.

"The facts on the ground are very clear," he told reporters. "There are not the votes to nuke the filibuster. And there aren't going to be 10 Democratic votes to all of a sudden support the SAVE America Act."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks to reporters outside of his office in the U.S. Capitol Building on June 22, 2026.

Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images

"Those are just hard realities," he continued. "People, at some point, have to come to grips with that."

Will the coming to grips happen tomorrow? We'll see.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, who initially invited Trump to the lunch, said in a Dear Colleague letter yesterday to other Republicans that he hopes they'll have "robust conversations" this week about "how we should spend our time between now and the November elections."

"President Trump is scheduled to be at our Wednesday lunch," he wrote in the letter, which I obtained. "I hope everyone will be vocal as to what they think is the best path forward."

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A politics rundown

•	Why a Brooklyn coffee shop banned a congressman after his visit
•	Water into whine: A century of problems rage at Lincoln Reflecting Pool
•	U.S. citizenship fees could rise 80% under new Trump administration plan

Senate panel considers vote to shield special ed from RFK Jr.'s agency

The Senate's education committee is considering a vote in July to prevent the Trump administration from transferring core functions of federal special education programs to the Health and Human Services Department, which is overseen by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"I agree that that should not be moved to HHS," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, during a meeting last week of the committee, which he chairs.

Cassidy publicly promised Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, a committee vote on a measure that would prevent HHS from administering programs in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. With several moderate Republican senators also serving on the panel, Kaine's effort has the potential to gain momentum.

Latest Supreme Court rulings

The biggest Supreme Court decisions ( birthright citizenship, transgender athletes, Trump's power over independent agencies, etc.) are still yet to come. Buckle up for a newsy remainder of the term.

My colleague Maureen Groppe was at the court for today's rulings, though, and has breakdowns of the less-watched decisions:

•	Equity theft: Supreme Court lets Michigan family fight foreclosure
•	Supreme Court says Rastafarian man can't sue guards over shaved dreadlocks

Zachary Schermele is the congressional correspondent at USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.