Washington Edition: More and louder

I’m Jonathan Tamari, senior Washington reporter for Bloomberg Government, and each weekday I’ll be coming to you with inside-the-room reporting and insights that reveal what’s really happening in Washington—and how it impacts you. Email me with feedback and comments here. If this newsletter was forwarded to you sign up here.

Today: The big ballroom push, Russia’s flood of disinformation, and Polymarket’s losing bets.

Ballroom Blitz

When there’s a crisis in Washington, there’s often just one solution: More of whatever your side already wanted. But louder. 

So the response to a gunman trying to rush a Hilton banquet hall with Donald Trump and many of Washington’s most powerful figures has been (so far) to push for more.

More for Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project. More finger-pointing in the 2-month argument over stalled funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Zach C. Cohen reported.

Much of the focus fell on the most shiny object, the expansive ballroom Trump has pitched for months as an addition to the White House.

Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images via Getty Images North America

Senator Rand Paul, chair of the Homeland Security committee, said he would push for a Congressional authorization that could end the legal challenges slowing the ballroom down. (The administration cited Saturday’s incident in asking a judge to end the case.)

Not to be outdone, Senator Lindsey Graham — one of Trump’s most reliable megaphones — went further, arguing that not only should the ballroom go forward, but it should be paid for with customs fees, not the private cash Trump has already raised, Lillianna Byington reported.

Graham, who leads the Senate Budget Committee, told reporters the public should foot most of the bill for the ballroom and private donations should be used “for buying china and stuff like that.”

The proposed structure would have bulletproof windows and a secure bunker. It’s unlikely, however, that it would have helped over the weekend, Jeff Mason reported:

The ballroom, if it is built, would be used for state dinners and other presidential events planned by the White House, not outside organizations.

Plus, the existing plans, according to Steven T. Dennis, don’t include enough capacity for the 2,000-plus people who attended the dinner. 

Perhaps more substantively, all sides returned to the argument over DHS, which includes the Secret Service and has been shut down for more than 70 days. 

Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images North America

“If Republicans truly want to improve security, they should join Democrats in funding the Secret Service, not Donald Trump’s luxury ballroom,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The problem for Republicans is that though Senate Democrats started the fight while calling for changes to ICE and border patrol enforcement policies, House Republicans have, in a rare strategic gambit, seized ownership of the shutdown.

They’ve refused to take up a funding bill that unanimously cleared the Senate, twice. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday he wants more tweaks to the plan. But he’s struggling to advance any bills at the moment (more below).

Patience has been running thin, even among some other Republicans. 

GOP Senator John Curtis told Zach it’s time for the House to vote on the Senate plan. “You don’t take chances” on “the safety of the president,” Curtis said.

Trump posted a call for “FAST and FOCUSED” action to fund ICE and border patrol in DHS.

Maybe he needs to say it louder?

Top News

Trump plans to “very soon” address an Iranian proposal to reopen the the Strait of Hormuz, the White House said. As the world watches, oil was back above $110 a barrel this morning, a three-week high.

Jimmy Kimmel defended his joke that Melania Trump “has the glow of an expectant widow,” citing the First Amendment. The president has called again for Kimmel’s firing.

A busy week in the House is off to a bad start. Plans to extend a key spy powers law, pass the Farm Bill and advance the framework for ICE funding all stumbled over the first procedural hurdles in the Rules Committee.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled the next — and likely last — move in the redistricting wars, proposing a new map designed to help Republicans add four House seats, Alexandra Samuels reports. If it can pass in a special session, it may give Republicans a slight overall edge. But it could also backfire

At the heart of Russia’s hybrid-warfare strategy is a flood of disinformation spread through social media. Bloomberg looks at the inner workings of fake stories like one purporting to link Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Jeffrey Epstein.

DOJ’s civil rights arm has lost about 75% of its career attorneys and has largely abandoned oversight of state and local law enforcement, the MacArthur Justice Center found and shared exclusively with Bloomberg Law.

More than 100,000 Polymarket accounts lost at least $1,000 last year. That is almost twice as many as accounts that made that much, a Bloomberg review found.

TSA sick-outs, war travel disruptions, and growing pains: the CEO of Dallas-Fort Worth Airport has had a remarkable first year.

Georgetown University law students debated DC inmates last week over the practice of solitary confinement. The result may surprise you.

Watch This

Go Deeper With BGOV

Changes to pesticide rules are one of a handful of provisions complicating the prospects for Republicans’ sweeping Farm Bill package, set for a floor vote this week, BGOV’s legislative analysts write.

The bill would block regulation of pesticide warning labeling at the state and local level, and shield manufacturers from liability. That’s drawn outrage from Democrats and a few Republicans who support other parts of the nearly 900-page bill. Read the BGOV Bill Analysis: H.R. 7567, Farm Bill Reauthorization.

On Today’s Agenda

King Charles III will address a joint session of Congress this afternoon and then attend a state dinner at the White House

CEOs of national and state hospital systems testify before the House Ways and Means Committee

The Conference Board’s gauge of consumer confidence is published

The Florida legislature convenes a special session on redistricting, AI and vaccines (see above)

The Federal Reserve starts its 2-day meeting to decide interest rates

More From Bloomberg

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• Morning Briefing Americas for catching up on everything you need to know

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