Washington, DC

1. Thune open to data center bill
2. Trump digs in on AI
3. Democrats embrace AI guardrails
4. Economic pressure on Iran
5. EPA’s carbon limits plans

The 10-year Treasury yield touched 5% today, a level it has reached only once since the 2008 financial crisis.

Data center bill could be in September mix

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters this afternoon that the chamber could take up data center-focused legislation if it passes the House this week, though unanimous consent would likely be needed for a vote. “We’ll see if there’s a way to move it,” Thune said of the bill, sponsored by endangered incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, that’s designed to put teeth behind President Donald Trump’s voluntary pledge for data center developers to bear the burden of related energy price spikes. Thune said the Senate’s September agenda hinges in part on tomorrow’s vote to advance the crypto bill known as the Clarity Act. If that fails, the Senate would pivot later this month to the bipartisan Protect College Sports Act — another uncertain task. “We’ll see if we have 60. I don’t know the answer for sure to that yet. I hope we do,” Thune said.

— Burgess Everett

Trump rejects AI executives’ calls for oversight

Trump responded to AI titans today, rejecting their calls for regulation of frontier models and dismissing warnings that the technology poses threats to humanity as a “hoax.” “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump posted to Truth Social. He argued the US must maintain its lead over China in the AI race, complained about Google’s decision to expand data center operations in Finland, and suggested detractors are part of a conspiracy. Trump predicted that AI would be the greatest economic development driver in history and warned naysayers. “Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!” Vice President JD Vance also weighed in on the debate, saying Americans shouldn’t “be scared of” AI and called for “consensus” between the administration and Congress.

2028 Democrats draw contrast with Trump on AI

Democrats with White House ambitions are setting themselves against Trump’s AI boosterism. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who had announced his own state’s restrictions last month, said that it was “long past time for our federal government to step up, take this seriously, and put up some guardrails.” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who campaigned in primary states with midterm candidates over the weekend, emphasized last week that he’d introduced AI safety legislation last year. Just two Democrats who are seen as possible 2028 presidential candidates, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have signed on to legislation from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that would halt new hyperscale data center construction. No Democrat on the long list of potential hopefuls has taken Trump’s unabashed expansionist position on AI, as they consider polling that finds toxically low support for the technology and for data centers.

— David Weigel

White House focuses on economic pressure against Iran

As Saudi Arabia asks the US for assistance in the widening Iran war, the Trump administration is focused on its economic pressure campaign to end the conflict. Today, the Treasury Department announced new sanctions against Russia’s VTB Bank, accusing the institution of serving as a lifeline to Tehran. “Treasury will not tolerate any support to the regime and will continue to identify, expose, and isolate Iran’s enablers,” Secretary Scott Bessent said. It’s unclear what the new sanctions may achieve; the bank has faced sanctions since 2022, after Russian leader Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. The move could pressure Beijing ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, since VTB is the only Russian bank with a branch in mainland China. The White House hopes to wind down the war in Iran using economic tools, and reports indicate Iran’s economy is nearing the brink of collapse.

EPA plans to rescind carbon limits for power producers

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to repeal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants today, removing regulations the Trump administration says have driven up energy costs and limited domestic energy production. The EPA has pushed to repeal the Biden-era standards since 2025, arguing that they impose costly restrictions on the power industry. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that the move will save the industry billions of dollars. The planned revocation comes as Zeldin, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright hosted a G20 ministerial meeting focused on “energy abundance” in Houston. With the Iran war driving up global oil prices, the administration is framing expanded domestic production as a buffer to cushion Americans from global energy shocks. Critics warn the rollback will increase pollution and harm public health, and environmental groups are expected to challenge the repeal in court.

— Lauren Morganbesser

White House

• President Trump’s family crypto holdings were moved into vesting contracts, a step that would allow the Trumps to sell the tokens. — Washington Sun
• ProPublica reported that a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian leader Vladimir Putin secretly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas wedding expenses, a story his wife, Bettina Trump, said mischaracterized a “wedding gift from a friend.”

Congress

• House Democrats are starting their leadership reshuffle. Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., is running for a leadership spot on House Democrats’ messaging arm, the DPCC, according to a person familiar with her thinking. And Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., is running for the Caucus Leadership Representative position, according to a letter to colleagues obtained by Semafor.

Courts

• A second federal judge blocked the Trump administration from implementing a new US Postal Service rule that would tighten mail-in voting requirements.

Campaigns

• Former Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., endorsed Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in an interview on CNBC, calling his former colleague “the soul of the Senate.”
• Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is giving more than $500,000 to Democratic national and state committees for the midterms.

Health

• Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will keynote a conference this week hosted by Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group he once led.

Technology

• Microsoft announced a draft code of conduct to keep its AI under human control.
• China’s foreign ministry criticized calls from US tech leaders to slow AI development, rejecting “fearmongering, confrontation and vicious competition.”
• Meanwhile, China’s top state security official warned AI could threaten the Chinese Communist Party’s hold on power. — NYT

Immigration

• A coalition of states and local governments sued the Trump administration to block a policy that would make it harder for immigrants to obtain green cards if they rely on public benefits.
• A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s independent watchdog found that the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center in Florida failed to comply with federal detention standards, including by confining migrants in “small metal enclosures.”

Outside the Beltway

• A newly installed memorial of Charlie Kirk was vandalized overnight in Phoenix.

World

• President Trump said Ukraine and Russia agreed to stop striking each other’s “energy targets.”

— President Trump calling Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a live taping of the All-In podcast.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Ashley Gold, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel, David Lim