| | | | | | | PRESENTED BY INSTAGRAM | | | | Axios PM | | By Mike Allen · Apr 30, 2025 | | 🐪 We're halfway there. Today's newsletter, edited by Natalie Daher, is 804 words, a 3-min. read. Thanks to Carolyn DiPaolo for copy editing. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Axios interviews Speaker Johnson | | | | Speaker Johnson at an Axios News Shapers event with Hans Nichols today in D.C. Photo: Kristoffer Triplaar for Axios House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended President Trump's tariffs and got real about the mega-MAGA bill's deadline in Congress this morning during an exclusive interview with Axios' Hans Nichols. ICYMI ... 5 top moments via Axios' Stef Kight: - 💰 If Trump's tariffs encroached on Congress' constitutional power, Johnson said he'd call Trump first before raising alarm. The speaker said the executive branch has "a broad range of authority," but added: "If it gets close to where the imbalance is there, then we would step in."
- 🗓️ On Trump's "one big, beautiful bill": The real deadline will be the debt ceiling "X date" (when Treasury runs out of cash), Johnson said. The speaker has repeatedly said he wants to pass the bill — which includes tax cuts, border funds and spending reductions — by Memorial Day.
- 💊 Medicaid's future: Johnson said he wasn't sure House Republicans would come up with $500 billion in savings in the Medicaid program, but added: "We aspire to that." Democrats have pounced on the idea of Republicans cutting Medicaid benefits as part of their mission to lower federal spending.
- 🚨 Day 1 impeachment: Johnson warned that if Democrats retake the House, he expects they'll attempt to impeach Trump for a third time "on Day 1." Trump's team is already war-gaming for that fight, Axios reported yesterday.
- 📞 He's not on Signal! But he gets "about 400" texts a day from House members. "Probably being monitored by the Russians for all I know," Johnson quipped.
Go deeper. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Stephen Neukam. Photo: Kristoffer Triplaar for Axios Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), onstage with Axios' Stephen Neukam at the same event, discussed his work on Kilmar Ábrego García's wrongful deportation last month. - "It's clear that the Trump administration continues to violate the constitution and Ábrego García's due process rights," Van Hollen said.
- The administration has repeatedly claimed Ábrego García is a member of MS-13, though he has never been charged with a crime in the U.S.
🧮 Van Hollen said Dems' leadership conversations "should start now" about a successor to Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), the caucus' No. 2 official, who announced his retirement last week. Go deeper. Watch the full interviews ... Share on Instagram. |     | | | | | | 2. 🛍️ Yes, it's Trump's economy | | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios President Trump appeared to acknowledge today that toy shortages are possible as his tariff hikes ripple through the economy, Axios' Nathan Bomey and Kelly Tyko report. - "Somebody said, 'oh, the shelves are gonna be open,'" Trump told reporters. "Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more."
🖼️ The big picture: A surge of beat-the-tariffs imports drove Q1 GDP down today, while tariff fears are pulling down stocks, too, Axios' Neil Irwin, Emily Peck and Pete Gannon write. 📉 On the stock market, Trump rejected any blame for its slide this year. - Stocks are down about 6% this year, but about 10% since Inauguration Day.
- Since tariff reality hit on "Liberation Day," the markets have seen historic volatility.
🔮 What's next: There are early warnings that April may have brought some gloom, and that inflation is elevated in ways that will limit the Federal Reserve's willingness to cut rates in response to any deterioration. | | | | | | | | A MESSAGE FROM INSTAGRAM | | Congress can help keep teens safe with app store parental approval | | |  | | | | Federal legislation requiring app store parental approval and age verification for teens under 16 would put parents in charge of teen app downloads – and help them keep teens safe. Why it's important: 3 of 4 parents agree that teens under 16 shouldn't be able to download apps without their approval. Learn more. | | | | | | 3. Catch me up | | | | Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios 🗳️ A Virginia GOP scandal involving John Reid, Virginia's first gay nominee for statewide office, could disrupt the party's unified front in an election year. Gov. Glenn Youngkin asked Reid to drop out of the lieutenant governor race over a nude photo sharing debacle. Reid has denied involvement and refused to step aside, and Youngkin has since said the decision "is up to John," Axios Richmond's Sabrina Moreno reports. ⚖️ A judge ordered Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested during an immigration interview, to be released from custody while his case proceeds. Go deeper. 📺 PBS CEO Paula Kerger told Axios' Sara Fischer that she's prepared to "vigorously" defend the independent broadcaster's board, when asked if she would sue the Trump administration if it tried to fire any PBS board directors. Read on. | | | | | | | | 4. 🍺 Dads "micro-dosing alcohol" | | | | Photo: Ryan Kutscher and Craig Carey Two D.C.-area dads had an idea: a low-alcohol IPA for those who can't throw 'em back like they used to. - 👨🍼 Dad Strength Brewing's beers are meant to taste like full-strength IPAs, but they only clock in at a 2.9% ABV — much lower than typical IPAs, which often are in the 6-7% range, Axios DC's Mimi Montgomery reports.
🍻 They now sell a West Coast IPA and a juicy IPA in D.C., Maryland's Montgomery County and Virginia. A hazy IPA is forthcoming, as is the group's first non-IPA brew, says co-founder Ryan Kutscher. - He puts it simply: "Being old is a b---h."
Share this story. | | | | | | | | A MESSAGE FROM INSTAGRAM | | App store parental approval can help keep teens safe online | | |  | | | | Instagram supports federal legislation requiring app store parental approval and age verification for teens under 16. Here's why: Today, teens can download any app — even ones parents don't want them to. Federal legislation putting parents in charge could help keep teens safe. Learn more. | | | | 📬 Please invite your friends to join PM. |  | Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it. | | | |
