Principals

1. Funding migrant repatriations
2. Reconciliation bill advances
3. Senate stablecoin vote
4. Trump calls Putin
5. Biden cancer diagnosis
6. 2028 Dem primary
7. Georgia gov race

PDB: Bessent dings Moody’s

Vance, Rubio meet with Pope Leo XIV … UK, EU agree to post-Brexit reset … Asian, European stocks fall, dollar drops on global economy concerns

Trump looks to expand migrant repatriations

President Donald Trump’s administration hopes to expand migrant repatriations by utilizing a nearly $3 billion “America First Opportunity Fund” at the State Department to incentivize more countries to take back their nationals who are now living in the US. The fund, briefly mentioned in the administration’s budget request earlier this month, is intended to be used on “strategic investments that make America safer,” and it mentions broad priorities like countering China and repatriations. A senior State Department official and an administration official confirmed the administration is hoping to use at least part of the fund to continue expanding “repatriation efforts to incentivize countries to accept their own citizens who are in America illegally,” as the State official told Semafor. The fund has attracted scrutiny from Democrats, who want more answers on what it will be used for.

— Shelby Talcott and Morgan Chalfant

House GOP sends reconciliation bill to the floor

The House Budget Committee voted along party lines to send Republicans’ reconciliation bill to the floor on Sunday, after fiscal hawks had blocked it on Friday. Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Chip Roy, R-Texas, Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., and Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., voted “present” instead of “no” this time around “in an effort to move this bill forward,” as Norman put it. All have raised concerns over the legislation’s price tag, particularly after Moody’s downgrade of America’s credit rating intensified concerns over the country’s debt (something Roy highlighted following Sunday’s vote). GOP leaders now have just days before their self-imposed deadline of Memorial Day to land changes that will appease conservatives without isolating moderates. “Deliberations … will continue on into the week, and I suspect right up until the time we put this big, beautiful bill on the floor,” Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said.

— Eleanor Mueller

Senate takes second stab at stablecoin vote

Senators expect to vote again tonight on advancing legislation to create rules for stablecoins — a type of cryptocurrency pegged to assets like the dollar — after a previous attempt imploded, a person familiar with the plans said. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer held a caucus-wide call Sunday to discuss unreleased text, another person said, that includes Democrat-sought changes. But those tweaks weren’t enough to win over progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who circulated a memo on how the latest version “fuel[s] Trump’s crypto corruption” by not targeting affiliated digital assets. Another critique: that tech companies could issue stablecoins in “a huge new gateway into financial services,” Americans for Financial Reform’s Mark Hays said. Talks over potential additional amendments are ongoing, a third person said, as crypto advocates urge lawmakers to “ignore these unconstructive luddites.” Banks are meanwhile quietly raising their own concerns.

— Eleanor Mueller

Trump hopes for progress on Russia-Ukraine

The White House is hoping to make progress in ending Russia’s war in Ukraine this week, despite the two sides appearing far apart following talks in Turkey. Trump said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin this morning, followed by a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (who is fresh off a meeting with Vice President JD Vance in Rome). “The president has a force of personality that is unmatched,” US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on ABC. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Moscow is preparing a written proposal for ceasefire conditions. But Ukraine isn’t looking for talks on ceasefire terms, believing a truce must be “full and unconditional,” a Ukrainian official told The Washington Post. “We don’t want to be involved in this process of just endless talks,” Rubio said on CBS, stressing the need for “some movement forward.”

Somber days for Biden

Former President Joe Biden, 82, was diagnosed on Friday with Stage IV prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. The cancer is aggressive, but treatment options have expanded in recent years; one oncologist told The New York Times that a man Biden’s age could “hopefully pass away from natural causes” rather than the disease. He received well-wishes online from both his former vice president and his successor (though Donald Trump Jr. took the opportunity to troll Jill Biden). The news caps a brutal week of headlines for Biden and his family: Axios published audio of a 2023 interview Biden gave with special counsel Robert Hur in which the then-president grasps for the right words and dates, while revelations from campaign books, like Original Sin by Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper, continue to trickle out into the wider press (including Semafor).

Dems gear up for the presidential pileup

Remember 2020, when 20+ Democrats — including seven senators — jumped into the presidential race? It was widely seen as too many candidates and too much chaos, but Democrats are plunging toward the exact same dynamic next cycle, Semafor’s Burgess Everett and Dave Weigel report. “I feel it in the air,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., who as a governor was one of those candidates in 2020. He called it a “ridiculous adventure,” and it might be one the Democratic Party has to navigate again. There are at least a half-dozen senators who could run, a half-dozen governors, and some ambitious House members — not to mention the unforeseen candidates. Democrats are pretty addicted to nominating senators, according to our analysis, though governors argue the party needs something different. “It’s the year of the governor,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., agreed.

Trump faces tricky decision in Georgia

Trump faces a potentially awkward decision as two MAGA-friendly candidates weigh bids to be Georgia’s next governor, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reports. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and the state’s lieutenant governor, Burt Jones, are both Trump loyalists who’d stand to gain a major foothold from his endorsement in any campaign to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. While Trump’s nod would clear the field, Greene insisted she isn’t basing her decision to run on that. “I didn’t have the president’s endorsement the first time I ran, and I beat eight men in the primary and a neurosurgeon in the runoff,” Greene said. There’s a risk the primary could devolve into infighting that Trump and Kemp want to avoid. Some Republicans worry about Greene on a statewide ballot, with one GOP operative saying she would have “significant liabilities in the general election.”

Debatable: Is removing sanctions on Syria a good idea?

Trump made headlines in the Middle East last week as he announced plans to ease sanctions on Syria and move to normalize bilateral relations. The decision won the president rare praise from Democrats, but some experts and lawmakers are suspicious of Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, given his past ties to Al Qaeda. The group that gained control of Syria last year, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, also still bears a terrorist designation. Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations tells Semafor’s Morgan Chalfant the move is a “gamble” and argues Trump should seek concrete commitments from al-Sharaa, like outreach to Israel, in order to lift sanctions. Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., says Trump is making the right call because Syria’s new leaders appear “to be governing in a better, much more equitable way.”

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., plans to support the latest version of the stablecoin legislation and is “encouraging his colleagues to do the same,” his spokeswoman said.

Playbook: Elon Musk’s presence in the political conversation has dwindled — President Trump and other Republicans hardly mention him anymore.

WaPo: A Justice Department proposal would make it easier for the department to prosecute members of Congress.

Axios: Vice President JD Vance considered making a stop in Israel this week, but ultimately decided against doing so when Israel expanded its military operation in Gaza.

White House

• President Trump is leaving behind less documentation than prior presidents. — AP

Outside the Beltway

• A Mexican naval ship sailed into the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, killing two crew members. The National Transportation Safety Board is set to hold a press conference on the incident this afternoon.
• Oklahoma’s social studies curriculum will now ask students to look at “discrepancies” in the 2020 election results.

Campaigns

• Kamala Harris is looking more likely to launch a bid for California governor. — CNN

Business

• President Trump demanded Walmart “eat the tariffs” instead of hiking prices.

Economy

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called Moody’s ratings a “lagging indicator” after the group downgraded the US credit rating.
• China’s retail sales growth slowed last month.

National Security

• The bombing of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, over the weekend was a terror attack, investigators say, though they’re still parsing the motives of the suspected bomber, who died in the blast.

Foreign Policy

• Nicusor Dan, the centrist, pro-EU mayor of Bucharest, prevailed in Romania’s presidential election, defeating right-wing nationalist George Simion.
• Israel began a new ground offensive in Gaza, even as teams from Tel Aviv and Hamas held indirect ceasefire talks in Doha.
• The Trump administration is putting together a plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Libya, and has discussed it with the Libyan government. — NBC

Media

• Ben Shapiro, founder of The Daily Wire, has been quietly soliciting financial backing for his company — or offers to purchase it, Semafor’s Max Tani scoops.

Principals Team

Edited by Morgan Chalfant, deputy Washington editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor

And Graph Massara, copy editor

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Kadia Goba, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, David Weigel

Vice President JD Vance gifts Pope Leo XIV a custom sports jersey.