Under the Dome: Dan Bishop likely heading toward confirmation
Good morning and welcome to the Under the Dome newsletter. I’m Caitlyn Yaede. First up, a dispatch from Danielle Battaglia.
Former Rep. Dan Bishop’s nomination to be deputy director of budget for the Office of Management and Budget is now heading to the Senate floor for a final vote.
It will likely pass with the support of the chamber’s 53 Republicans.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Committee on the Budget voted, along party lines, to approve Bishop’s nomination by President Donald Trump.
Only Republicans and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, attended the meeting in a small conference room on the Senate side of the Capitol. It was a rowdier scene than usual with lawmakers joking back and forth while Chairman Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, waited for a quorum.
He and Merkley decided to move to their opening speeches about Bishop while they waited for other senators to arrive.
“I think he’s a good pick,” Graham said, keeping his speech short, before turning to Merkley for his thoughts. “You?”
Merkley said Bishop would not commit to following the law.
In his testimony, Bishop told Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, unequivocally that he would follow the law. But when Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, asked if the president could impound – or block – funding, Bishop argued he could.
Under the law, a president can file a memo telling Congress why funding it created is unnecessary and asking for lawmakers to adjust it, but he can’t unilaterally make a decision without congressional action.
“I’m troubled,” Merkley said. “Many of my colleagues are troubled by this viewpoint. And our view is, law is not a suggestion and the president is not a king.”
After the hearing, Merkley told reporters he didn’t pay attention to Bishop when Bishop served in the House, but through his testimony, last week, he is aware that Bishop is “an acolyte” of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and “a determined Trumpian minion who will follow Trump’s decision to break the law and the Constitution.”
– Danielle Battaglia
HUNDREDS RALLY AGAINST DOGE
The North Carolina Democratic Party hosted a protest against the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency Wednesday.
Demonstrators gathered in Raleigh’s Bicentennial Plaza around noon, wielding signs with messages like “Stop the GOP Coup” and “DOGE Musk Go.” The event drew crowds rallying against Donald Trump, Musk and Republicans in Congress.
“We are impacted every day in the sense that we are not seeing democracy in action,” attendee Gary Brewer told The News & Observer. The veteran said protecting Social Security and Veterans Affairs were top priorities that drove him to attend.
NCDP chair Anderson Clayton gave opening remarks, followed by speeches from Rep. Natalie Murdock, Rep. Rodney Pierce and Hampton Dellinger —the former special counsel fired by Trump.
Sen. Graig Meyer took the stage and then the crowd marched across the street to the state legislative building, where some continued their demonstration in the lobby.
UNC-CHAPEL HILL FACES LAWSUIT
UNC-Chapel Hill is facing lawsuits from three organizations after it banned some student protesters from its campus, Korie Dean reports.
Students from UNC, Duke University and Meredith University were banned after their involvement in a multi-day tent encampment, the “Gaza solidarity encampment,” that took place on Polk Place last spring. Police forcefully took down the encampment on April 30.
The ACLU of North Carolina says these actions “run counter to the missions of higher education and the deep-rooted protections of the First Amendment.” It’s joined by Emancipate NC and Muslim Advocates in this lawsuit.
The lawsuit cites a lack of hearings and due process prior to disciplinary action that also included the suspension of one of the students.
This comes after the Trump administration cracked down on what it designated as antisemitic and pro-Hamas speech. The Department of Homeland Security detained Mahmoud Khalil — a Columbia University student involved in pro-Palestinian protests — whose visa was subsequently revoked.
The Trump administration says that is permitted by a 73-year-old immigration bill that grants the power to revoke a visa or green card for conduct adverse to foreign policy and national security. National political correspondent David Catanese has more.
What else we’re working on
▪ Ten weeks into his term, Gov. Josh Stein made his first speech in front of lawmakers Wednesday, striking a bipartisan tone as he called for government efficiency measures, restrictions on cellphones in schools, and more money to help Western North Carolina recover. Read more from Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan and Avi Bajpai.
Today’s newsletter was by Caitlyn Yaede and Danielle Battaglia. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol.
