Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Rebecca Noble/Getty Images
President Trump's speech to Congress tonight could give lawmakers some direction on rolling back former President Biden's climate and energy programs.
Why it matters: Trump arrives on the Hill as Republicans search for cuts in reconciliation and DOGE has slashed agency payrolls and frozen funding. Oh, and there's a tariff war.
Here's what we'll be watching …
💵 Taxes: We'll be listening for any indication of how he wants to handle reconciliation.
- Both chambers have passed a budget resolution. But they need to get on the same page before anything can realistically happen.
- Trump has generally favored the House's "one big beautiful bill" strategy, but his deputies have indicated the Senate two-bill plan can be a backup.
- "We've put a lot of ink on paper. We're just not going to show you," Sen. John Kennedy quipped to reporters last night.
🤑 Spending: The spending deadline and a possible shutdown loom. Look for Trump to mention it, at least in passing.
- Trump has already advocated for a "clean" CR through the end of the fiscal year. That looks like the most likely scenario on the Hill right now.
- But what "clean" means is always debatable.
- "Whatever he wants to talk about will be fine with me, but it would certainly be helpful" for Trump to say something about annual spending, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole told reporters.
⚡️ Power grid push: Watch for Trump to talk about the soaring demand for electricity from AI data centers and the need to build more power plants.
- It's one of the president's favorite energy topics that drove his day 1 national energy emergency and has been a source of bipartisan concern.
- In a speech to the World Economic Forum, he called for "rapid approvals" for AI companies looking to build power plants attached to their data centers.
- Trump could clarify what he means by "all of the above" energy, as the exclusion of wind and solar energy has rankled Democrats and developers of the vast majority of proposed U.S. energy projects.
🐕 DOGE's long leash — for now: Trump so far has publicly backed Elon Musk's efforts to fire big parts of the federal workforce and cut funding.
- Congressional Republicans have been unwilling to criticize Musk and DOGE, while gently expressing concerns about protecting certain tax credits and loans.
- The funding cuts and layoffs have been an animating issue for Democrats, many of whom are bringing laid-off federal workers to the speech.
🚗 EV target: Trump on Monday criticized Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who's slated to give the Democratic response, for her support for EVs.
- A White House statement attacked Slotkin for voting against overturning Biden's EPA tailpipe emissions rule, which is responsible for "killing auto manufacturing jobs," it said.
- Some Democrats, including Senate Energy and Natural Resources Ranking Member Martin Heinrich, plan to skip the speech entirely in protest.
