The Hill’s 12:30 Report — As debt ceiling clock ticks, frustrated lawmakers dip out

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–> A midday take on what’s happening in politics and how to have a sense of humor about it.* 

*Ha. Haha. Hahah. Sniff. Haha. Sniff. Ha–breaks down crying hysterically.

TALK OF THE MORNING 

Lawmakers ditch town with no debt ceiling deal: 

Though leaders have expressed tepid optimism, lawmakers have kicked off their Memorial Day weekend with no deal hammered out to prevent a federal default. 

The top negotiators will stick around and continue talks, but everyone else has been cut loose for the week (though told not to stray too far). 

As it stands, Wednesday would likely be the earliest that the House could pass an agreement based on chamber rules that require adequate time for lawmakers to view the text of legislation.

Then there’s the Senate to consider, where a single member could further delay the process. At least one — Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — has already said he’s not afraid to be that person if the deal doesn’t include “substantial” reform measures. 

The clock is ticking: Biden officials and other experts have predicted the U.S. has just about a week until it could default on its debt. The Treasury Department already has resorted to “extraordinary measures” to keep the government afloat in the meantime, but available resources are quickly dwindling. 

One favor before you leave: Democratic leaders sent a reminder to House members to sign up for one-minute floor speeches before they leave for the Memorial Day weekend to bash Republicans over their approach to the debt debate. 

STICKING POINTS: 

Negotiators have generally agreed that the big fight centers on nondefense spending caps — freezing spending at the current level, as the White House is pushing, or rolling back to the 2022 level, as the House GOP prefers. There’s also an issue over whether to claw back unspent federal coronavirus pandemic money.

But, but, but: As The Hill’s Tobias Burns reports, another wrench thrown into the mix is a Republican-backed effort to also cut IRS enforcement funding as part of the debt ceiling deal. Doing so would actually add to the national debt, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. 

The Hill’s Aris Folley explores a few options that Congress has in the coming days. 

It’s Thursday, May 25. I’m Elizabeth Crisp, filling in for Cate with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here. Send me your tips, add me to your media list, share your funny animal videos and pass along your White House or 2024 campaign gossip: ecrisp@digital-staging.thehill.com and follow me on Twitter @elizabethcrisp. 

🏃 2024 

~ Hold, please ~ — DeSantis’s campaign gets off to a rocky start: 

To put it lightly, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) highly anticipated campaign announcement ran into a few hiccups Wednesday night — largely due to the decision to eschew normal campaign announcement tactics for a novel approach of holding an audio-only interview on Twitter Spaces with Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

People tuning in were left for several minutes of dead space — if they could get in at all — as the feed kept crashing. 

It’s raising questions about whether DeSantis’s team is ready for primetime and what the potential fallout — internally or for DeSantis’s polling — will be. 

Opponents poke fun: If anything could bring former President Trump and President Biden onto the same page, it was clearly going to be a bit of DeSantis schadenfreude. 

The 2020 and now 2024 rivals didn’t disappoint on that front: 

• As the DeSantis side struggled to overcome glitches, Biden’s team tweeted out a simple “this link works” with a link to donate to his reelection campaign. 
• Trump’s team, meanwhile, unleased a “failure to launch” mocking spree aimed at his fledgling GOP rival. 

Spin, spin, spin: Team DeSantis is playing the ordeal as his big “break the internet” moment. As DeSantis described the technical difficulties in a fundraising pitch after the event, “it broke the internet because so many people were excited about being on that Twitter Space.” 

DeSantis capped off the evening with a telephone town hall and a call with reporters.

Next up: DeSantis will be making a four-day campaign swing across 12 cities in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina next week, with an official campaign kickoff coming in Des Moines on Tuesday. 

DeSantis and his allies are preparing for a major Trump counteroffensive. The Hill’s Max Greenwood has the story. 

In Congress 

Democrats mock Marjorie Taylor Greene’s call for ‘decorum’:

Bombastic Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene may have gotten a taste of her own medicine this week as she was heckled by Democratic colleagues. 

When Greene, while presiding over the chamber, urged members “to abide by decorum of the House,” Democrats instead erupted in laughter. 

You’ll remember: Greene notoriously yelled out “liar” during President Biden‘s State of the Union speech and was recently reprimanded for calling Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas a “liar” during a committee hearing. She’s also been called out for heckling Democratic colleagues. 

Some members — including frequent Greene foes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) — stood up and shouted back at her “decorum” request. 

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) even tweeted his response: “I haven’t laughed this hard in a while — but Marjorie Taylor Greene just called for ‘decorum’ on the House Floor.”  

The Hill’s Mychael Schnell has more from the chamber. 

Watch video of the exchange here via C-SPAN (at about the six-minute mark). 

🚓 In the White House 

Biden again urges police reform on anniversary of George Floyd’s murder:

President Biden this morning marked the third-year anniversary of George Floyd‘s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer with another call for Congress to act on police reform. 

“The injustice on display for the world to see sparked one of the largest civil rights movements in generations — with calls from all corners to acknowledge and address the challenges in our criminal justice system and in our institutions more broadly,” Biden said in a statement. 

Floyd, who was Black, died after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for roughly nine minutes. A bystander’s video of the encounter sparked outrage and a wave of protests against police brutality. 

Biden signed an executive order last year that banned chokeholds, restricted no-knock warrants and created a federal police misconduct database, among other measures. But Congress has failed to pass the full George Floyd Justice in Police Act after a breakdown in bipartisan negotiations. 

“I urge Congress to enact meaningful police reform and send it to my desk. I will sign it,” Biden said. (The Hill) 

RELATED:  

The top prosecutor in Chauvin’s murder trial has written a book out this week that recounts details of the case. (The Associated Press) 

🤖 In other news 

Beware the robots – poll finds many view AI as a threat to humanity: 

A majority of Americans in a new survey say they view artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential danger to humanity, as the rapidly evolving technology draws increased scrutiny.   

The Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday found that 54 percent of respondents agreed that AI threatens humanity, while 31 percent responded that they think it will help humanity.   

A similar Reuters/Ipsos poll that was released last week found that about 6 in 10 Americans viewed AI as a threat to humanity.  

The wave of chatbots and image-generating software has raised concerns about the rapid development of AI programs. Congress has been increasingly interested in the issue and how to regulate it. (The Hill) 

🐥 Notable tweets 

‘George Santos is correct’:

Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican who has been caught in a series of lies and has refused repeated calls for his resignation, was roasted by “Jeopardy! Masters” host Ken Jennings this week, when the serial fabulist was featured in one of the questions. 

“I don’t get to say this very much, but George Santos is correct,” Jennings quipped. The game show’s official Twitter account posted a video of the sequence for those who missed the show on air. 

Trump recycles throwback insult for DeSantis: 

President Trump had no shortage of insults for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the one-time ally announced his run for the GOP nomination on Wednesday. But he curiously appeared to recycle a nickname for a former Democratic candidate. 

“Alfred E. Neuman!” Trump posted to his Truth Social feed, calling up the same dated dis that he previously deployed for Democrat Pete Buttigieg, now the Transportation secretary. 

Buttigieg, 37 at the time, admitted he had to Google the MAD Magazine reference. “I guess it’s a generational thing,” he said. 

⏱ On tap 

The House came in at 9 a.m., and the Senate is out. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in D.C. 

• 10 a.m.: President Biden received the Presidential Daily Briefing. 
• 1 p.m.: Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters.  
• 1:45 p.m.: Biden announces his intent to nominate Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. to serve as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

All times Eastern. 

🍷 In lighter news 

Today is National Wine Day! Fun fact to point out at happy hours later today, as you enjoy a nice glass of red or white. 

And because you made it this far, check out this video of an expert skateboarder pup.