What Else Washington Got Done This Week
The big, beautiful, bipartisan bills.
Good morning! The big news from Washington this week — with good reason — was the House passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which contains the bulk of President Trump’s legislative agenda. But did Congress do anything else this week? We’ll take a look at the bills you haven’t heard about this morning.
The newsletter will be off Monday for Memorial Day, but I’ll see you in your inboxes on Sunday for a Book Club interview featuring “Original Sin.” Have a great long weekend! — Gabe
No Tax on Tips
The Senate passes all sorts of measures by unanimous consent each week: this week, for example, that included a bill creating a Black Wall Street National Monument in Tulsa and a resolution designating June 12 as “National Seersucker Day.”
But, every once in a while, a major piece of legislation sneaks through without any senator objecting. (As the name implies, bills can only advance through speedily “unanimous consent” if not a single senator speaks up in opposition. Otherwise, they have to go through a much more time-consuming process.) This week, by unanimous consent, the Senate unexpectedly passed the No Tax on Tips Act, a bipartisan proposal by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).
The measure would create a federal tax deduction of up to $25,000 a year equal to the amount of “cash tips” reported by “an individual in the course of such individual’s employment in an occupation which traditionally and customarily received tips.” (The bill instructs the Treasury Secretary to draw up a list of such occupations. Also, “cash tips” include tips received by credit or debit card. The term just distinguishes from non-monetary tips, like if a customer were to tip someone by giving them tickets to a sports game.) Only employees who make less than $160,000 a year would be eligible for the exemption.
The proposal — which was championed by President Trump during his 2024 campaign — polls well, although it is viewed skeptically by economists, who note that it effectively taxes tipped and non-tipped workers differently for receiving the same amount of income (and that the proposal will impact only higher-paid tipped workers, since about one-third of tipped workers don’t owe any income taxes to begin with.)
The bill that passed the Senate this week is unlikely to become law, although the proposal is. That’s because it’s been included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Republican reconciliation measure, although the version in that package does not include a $25,000 limit and would expire in 2028. It’s an interesting reminder, though, that many of the tax provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill would receive bipartisan support if placed alone on the floor (although several Democrats expressed ambivalence about “no tax on tips” this week, despite the fact that none of them stepped forward to block it).
$CongressCoin
The last time we checked in on the bipartisan GENIUS Act — which, if enacted, would be the first major American law regulating cryptocurrency — it was languishing in the Senate, where many of its Democratic supporters had turned against the bill in protest of President Trump’s attempts to profit off of crypto. (By the way, that dinner with the president for the top holders of his $TRUMP memecoin? It was last night, and per the New York Times, several guests said they bought the coin and attended the dinner with the “explicit intent” of influencing Trump on policy.)
The GENIUS Act doesn’t deal with all forms of cryptocurrency, just stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies where the value is pegged to an existing asset (often the U.S. dollar or another fiat currency) to ensure a relatively stable price. Under the bill, entities issuing stablecoins would be required to obtain licenses — either from state governments (if the entity has fewer than $10 billion in assets) or the federal government (if the entity has more than $10 billion in assets).
Backers of the legislation argue that it imposes a regulatory framework that would “enhance consumer confidence” in stablecoins while still allowing for innovation. Opponents charge that the framework would apply “weaker safeguards than banks or investment companies must adhere to.”
Since the last time we covered the bill, a bipartisan compromise was reached on several key provisions, producing a deal that reportedly adds “special government employees” (like Elon Musk, at least until next week) to the list of executive branch officials prevented from selling stablecoins (though the president remains off the list) and adds extra layers of regulation if a Big Tech company seeks to sell a stablecoin.
Those concessions were enough for the bill to advance, which it did in a 69-31 vote this week, with 51 Republicans and 18 Democrats in support and two Republicans and 29 Democrats opposed.
Making Veterans Claims Simpler
As of 2023, an estimated 9 million veterans were eligible for health care services from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), but only 6 million were using it. A quick glance at Reddit can help explain the gap:
You get the picture.
This week, the House unanimously passed the Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act, which would require the VA to enter an agreement with a federally funded research and development center to assess the forms that the VA sends to claimants.
The research center would then submit recommendations to the VA on how to make its forms “clearer” and “better organized,” and the VA would be required to implement the recommendations within two years after receiving them.
The House also unanimously passed a slew of other veterans bills, including measures allowing the VA to give financial assistance to disabled veterans who need to modify their cars and to veterans who have fallen behind on their mortgages; requiring the VA to notify veterans that they can be assisted in the claims process for free by a veterans service organization; improving VA services around suicide prevention and sexual trauma; and launching an investigation into the VA funding shortfall last year.
Odds and Ends
🚗 The Senate, bucking the advice of its parliamentarian, voted that the EPA’s “California waivers” count as regulations for the purposes of the Congressional Review Act, which allows regulations to be overturned by simple majority vote. As I wrote earlier this week, the move was a notable escalation in the slow death of the legislative filibuster.
Ultimately, the chamber voted 51-44 to block a California plan phasing out the sale of new gas-powered vehicles; 51-45 to block California from requiring that half of all new trucks sold in the state be electric by 2035; and 49-46 to prevent the state from limiting emissions from cars and trucks. The vote to buck the parliamentarian was along party lines, as were the votes on undoing the three “California waivers,” except for the first one, which was backed by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), representing “Motor City.”
📱 President Trump signed the TAKE IT DOWN Act into law. The bipartisan bill, which passed unanimously in the Senate and 409-2 in the House, would criminalize the online publication of “revenge porn,” including AI-generated “deepfake” nude photos.
🏥 The House Oversight Committee voted to approve a bill authored by its late ranking member, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), calling for a federal report on esophageal cancer, just hours after Connolly died of the disease.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Jim Comer (R-KY), hailed Connolly as a “friend” and a “true statesman” who was “always committed to bipartisanship where he thought we could agree,” and moved to rename the bill as the Gerald Connolly Esophageal Cancer Awareness Act.
🚽 The Senate Commerce Committee approved the bipartisan WIPPES Act, which would require that “premoistened, nonwoven” disposable wipes, such as baby wipes or disinfectant wipes, that have a “significant potential to be flushed” be sold with a label that says “Do Not Flush,” as to avoid the damage to public sewer systems that is done by flushing them.
That last bill also includes a section prohibiting false “representations of flushability,” which is just a fun thing that could someday be enshrined in federal law:
What else you should know
The Department of Homeland Security informed Harvard that it will no longer able to enroll international students due to allegations of campus antisemitism. The school has responded with a lawsuit. (Harvard Crimson)
President Trump threatened 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union and 25% tariffs specifically on Apple in a pair of social media posts this morning. (Axios)
A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Education Department, ruling that the agency no longer had enough employees to perform “statutorily mandated functions.” (NPR)
A congressional watchdog said that the Trump administration violated federal law by declining to spend funds on an infrastructure program approved by Congress. (Politico)
The new Social Security commissioner told staff that he had to Google, “What the heck’s the commissioner of Social Security?” upon being offered the job. (ABC)
Enjoy your weekend, Gabe. May you get a bit of rest
Great update on wipes and getting rid of them.