Democrats Gain Edge on Economy for the First Time in 16 Years

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (Reuters)
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Good Thursday evening. We've got plenty of fiscal news for you tonight, but first, you might want to know that scientists now say the seas were once home to a massive, predatory 60-foot-long, kraken-like octopus with a bone-breaking beak. That's amazing, or frightening, or both.

Republicans Take First Step Toward Funding ICE and CBP

The Senate voted early Thursday morning to adopt a Republican budget blueprint representing the first step in a plan to provide some $70 billion for immigration enforcement agencies and end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown that has stretched on since mid-February.

The 50-48 vote just after 3:30 a.m. capped a series of 17 votes through the night as part of the "vote-a-rama" required under the special budget reconciliation process Republicans are using to be able to bypass a Democratic filibuster. No Democrats voted for the budget resolution, while Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul voted against it. Two Senators, Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia, did not vote.

"We have a multi-step process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America's borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday before the votes.

Democrats charged that Republicans were ignoring Americans' affordability concerns and were instead looking to provide a blank check for a lawless crackdown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents. Democrats also argued that ICE and CBP already have about $100 billion in unspent funding from President Trump's signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but Republicans are asking for billions more anyway.

"ICE already has more funding than the Marines," Sen. Raphael Warnock said in a post on X. "This money should be spent on things Americans need like health care, not Trump's paramilitary force."

Sen. Patty Murray made a similar criticism. "Republicans are pulling an all-nighter to shovel $70 billion at ICE-and can't be bothered to spend a cent to save health care for the millions of Americans who can't afford insurance," she wrote online. "Shame on every one of them."

The process now requires the House to adopt the same budget framework - and that may pose some challenges for Speaker Mike Johnson. Senate GOP leaders were able to keep their members largely united behind the narrowly focused budget framework, despite some calls to broaden the scope of the measure to include other party priorities. Johnson will face similar demands from some of his members who worry that this reconciliation bill may be the last chance to enact some key agenda items. Some also want the reconciliation bill to fund all of DHS, including other agencies that would get funded separately under the Senate's two-step plan.

Some House Republicans reportedly met Thursday to discuss a potential third reconciliation bill, which faces plenty of skepticism but would help alleviate pressure to pack more into the current effort.

Thune told reporters that Johnson hasn't provided any guarantee that the House can adopt the budget resolution that the Senate did.

"They know it's coming, and you know he's obviously got people who want to expand the scope too," Thune said. "But I think hopefully the White House will be engaged in trying to make sure we get the budget resolution done."

He added: "It doesn't seem like this should be that heavy of a lift, but nothing is easy these days."

If the House can join in adopting the budget plan, the Senate plans to then take up the actual reconciliation bill funding immigration enforcement operations the week of May 11 - which means that the DHS shutdown is likely to still drag on for weeks.

Democrats Gain Edge on Economy for the First Time in 16 Years

Voters now believe that Democrats would do a better job than Republicans when it comes to handling the economy, according to a new poll from Fox News.

In a national survey conducted April 17-20, respondents gave Democrats a four-point edge on the economy, with 52% saying they would do a better job "maintaining a strong economy," compared to 48% who picked Republicans.

As CNN's Aaron Blake notes, the last time Democrats had the advantage on the economy was 2010.

The edge for Democrats was a bit larger on a key economic issue, inflation. Fifty-four percent of respondents said Democrats would do a better job on inflation and prices, compared to 46% for Republicans.

The economy and inflation are seen as important issues to voters right now. Asked to name the most important issue facing the country, 26% cited inflation and high prices, while 17% named the economy and jobs.

Still, Republicans continue to hold the edge on national security, crime and immigration. And 61% of those surveyed said Democrats are focused on the "wrong" issues, matching the result for Republicans.

Trump's job performance: Voters expressed strong disapproval of President Trump's handling of key economic issues. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they disapprove of Trump's performance on inflation, compared to 28% who said they approve, while 66% said they disapprove of his handling of the economy, compared to 34% who said they approve.

Overall, 58% of voters said they disapprove of Trump's performance, compared to 42% who expressed support.

chart-Dem-vs-Rep-FOX-04232026-600-v2.png

Number of the Day: 1

Last September, President Trump ordered the creation of a new "Gold Card" visa program to allow wealthy foreigners to gain permanent residence in the United States after making a $1 million contribution to the federal government and passing through a vetting process.

When the idea was discussed at Trump's first cabinet meeting in February 2025, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Gold Card could raise as much as $1 trillion, with the money being used to reduce the national debt. "That's why the president is doing it, because we are going to balance the budget, and we are going to pay off the debt under this president," Lutnick said.

The president took the supposition even further, saying the program could raise $50 trillion - "which means our national debt is totally paid off, and we have $15 trillion above that," Trump told his assembled Cabinet.

In March 2025, Lutnick claimed that he had already sold 1,000 Gold Card visas. However, the program did not start operating until December, raising questions about the accuracy of his claim. On Thursday, appearing before a House committee, Lutnick told lawmakers that the true tally of Gold Card applications approved and "gifts" received was considerably lower: one.

"They have approved recently one person," Lutnick told Democratic Rep. Grace Meng, adding that "there are hundreds in the queue that ... are going through the process."

Asked what the Commerce Department plans to do with the "billions of dollars in the gift account," Lutnick said the money would be used "for the betterment of the United States of America," as determined by the Trump administration.

Quotes of the Day

"It's absurd ... They cut a trillion dollars."

− Sara Rosenbaum, a professor emerita at George Washington University's school of public health, quoted in an Associated Press fact-check article examining recent claims by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that Republicans' big 2025 tax and spending bill did not cut Medicaid.

Last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted Medicaid work requirements and eligibility changes that are expected to reduce spending by about $1 trillion over 10 years. But when asked about those changes during recent congressional hearings, Kennedy repeatedly denied any cuts had been made. "There are no cuts to Medicaid," Kennedy said. "We are increasing Medicaid spending by 47% over the next 10 years. Increasing spending by 47%. How is that a cut? That is only a cut in Washington, D.C."

Experts told Ali Swenson of the Associated Press that, while the Congressional Budget Office projects Medicaid spending will grow by 47% over a decade, the growth would be higher if not for the GOP law. Republicans insist that their changes will address waste, fraud and abuse in the program.

"This is an old, sort of tired argument that's been used by conservatives to justify spending cuts by saying, well, if spending is still growing in nominal terms, somehow there wasn't a cut," Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University, told the AP. "The federal government is spending nearly a trillion dollars less than it otherwise would have in the absence of the legislation."

"He's in a bad mood, so he's letting a lot of them go. ... He's preparing to really let a lot of them go."

− An unnamed Republican senator as quoted by Politico discussing expectations that President Trump isn't done shaking up the top levels of his administration after the firings of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and this week's departure of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who faced multiple allegations that she abused her power. Among those officials that senators are privately pointing to as potentially on the way out are Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Some Republican senators reportedly think firings or resignations should happen sooner rather than later to avoid delays in confirming replacements - and defuse GOP concerns about what might happen if Democrats win control of the Senate in November's midterms.

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