Washington, DC

1. GOP party-line dreams dashed
2. AI order delayed
3. Trump’s sway over women’s Smithsonian
4. Rubio’s NATO mission
5. Frack, baby, frack
6. States adopt paid leave

Shares in IBM ▲ 12% after the US government took equity stakes in quantum firms.

Republicans delay immigration vote over Trump’s $1.8 billion fund

Republicans in Congress today abandoned their push to pass a party-line $72 billion immigration enforcement funding bill by President Donald Trump’s June 1 deadline. The about-face came as intraparty resistance mounts to Trump’s $1.8 billion fund of taxpayer money for his political allies — on the heels of similar GOP pushback to security money for Trump’s White House ballroom renovation, which had already fallen out of the bill. Lawmakers are now leaving Washington for 10 days, though the GOP’s troubles will likely follow it into next month. Senate Democrats were preparing amendments targeting the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization” fund, and it’s not clear that Republican leaders can defeat those without their own compromise approach to constraining a Trump fund that several of their members dislike. “We can’t help the president with a budget reconciliation package with this hanging over us,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

Trump delays AI order that signaled a shift

Trump’s decision to delay the signing of a planned AI executive order today suggests a debate inside the White House over the emerging technology is still playing out. The president said he delayed the order signing — to which prominent tech CEOs were invited just yesterday — because he “didn’t like certain aspects” of the directive and believes it “gets in the way of” US dominance over China on AI. But Politico reported that low attendance among executives also factored into the decision to delay. Nevertheless, the move leaves the order’s fate in doubt. It was expected to create a voluntary framework for companies to share new AI models with the federal government before they are released; the draft suggested even light-touch Trump officials were taking AI risks “much more seriously than” before, one former Biden official told The Washington Post.

Democrats fear Trump interference at women’s Smithsonian

A years-long, bipartisan effort in Congress to build a women’s history Smithsonian museum is expected to end this evening with little to no support from Democrats, who argue Republican changes to the bill give Trump undue influence. “Republicans ruined an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill to appeal to Trump’s already over-inflated ego,” Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said in a statement to Semafor. Congress authorized the museum’s creation in 2020 with broad bipartisan support. Tonight’s vote was supposed to be technical and establish a building site, but language added in committee in March gave Trump new powers, including to override the Smithsonian’s preferred location and select another site. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., who introduced the bill, rejected Democrats’ claims in an interview with Semafor: “They’re saying all sorts of things that are simply not true about the president’s ability to control content.”

— Lauren Morganbesser

Conflicts cloud NATO meeting

Secretary of State Marco Rubio will face a tough crowd in Sweden tomorrow as he meets with NATO foreign ministers who are troubled by the administration’s decision to pause troop deployments to Poland. Rubio will “discuss the need for increased defense investment and greater burden sharing” among alliance members, according to the State Department. He also plans to meet with Arctic nations on “shared economic and security interests” in the region, State said. It’s a sign that he’ll broach another sensitive topic: Greenland. Iran also looms large over the confab, as the alliance weighs getting more involved in helping ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz amid rising pressure from Trump. Despite friction, Rubio is the preferred Trump messenger among European countries who welcome his “less antagonistic nature and calm demeanor,” The Associated Press wrote.

View: US frackers join the fray

US oil companies are finally ready to listen to the siren song brought on by the war in Iran — a sign consumers shouldn’t hold their breath for lower prices soon. When I talked to Kaes Van’t Hof, CEO of Texas independent producer Diamondback Energy, only a month ago, he was circumspect about responding to Trump’s call for companies like his to drill their way to the rescue of a global economy reeling from the loss of barrels from the Gulf. But now that view, shared widely in the industry, is changing. “Operators are starting to get more comfortable that more barrels are needed in this market,” Van’t Hof told me. During price spikes, oil execs have to walk a fine line. They’ve all been on this roller coaster long enough to usually be pretty conservative.

State paid leave laws build national pressure

Forty-two states plus the District of Columbia have moved to expand workers’ access to paid leave since 2020, according to a new analysis shared first with Semafor. Among them: Virginia, where the governor signed a law this week that requires most employers to provide paid sick leave. Advocates hope the growing patchwork of state policies — costly and complicated for the private sector to navigate — will put pressure on Washington to act, particularly if Democrats win a majority this fall. “The momentum for paid leave since Build Back Better hasn’t died, it’s multiplied,” Paid Leave for All’s Dawn Huckelbridge told Semafor. Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., said: “Paid family and medical leave has to be at the heart of a new majority’s agenda come January.”

— Eleanor Mueller

On Thursday, June 11, Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), Bipartisan Philanthropy Caucus, will join Semafor on stage for The Future of Philanthropy.

For generations, philanthropy has backed ideas ahead of their time — from early childhood education to breakthrough research that later became public goods. As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the sector faces a pivotal moment: under increasing political scrutiny, yet more vital than ever to expanding opportunity and driving innovation.

Semafor editors will host on-the-record conversations on how philanthropy can scale solutions for workforce mobility and community resilience. Featuring: Tim Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics and CEO & Co-Founder, UNITE; Emma Bloomberg, Founder & CEO, Murmuration; Marla Blow, President & Chief Operating Officer, Skoll Foundation; Richard Buery, Jr., CEO, Robin Hood Foundation; Asha Curran, CEO, Giving Tuesday; Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), Bipartisan Philanthropy Caucus; Steve Preston, President & CEO, Goodwill Industries International; and Stacey D. Stewart, CEO, MADD and former CEO, March of Dimes.

June 11 | Washington, DC | Request Invite

Trump’s $1.8B Fund

• The Justice Department noted in a memo to Republican senators that the Trump family wouldn’t be able to benefit from President Trump’s $1.8 billion fund, though it didn’t explain how that would be enforced.
• Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Senate Republicans today that anyone who assaulted a police officer during the 2021 storming of the Capitol would be ineligible to receive benefits from the fund, though the detail was not in the DOJ’s memo.

White House

• The NHL signed an “information-sharing” agreement on prediction markets with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the burgeoning betting industry.
• Staff at the Department of Health and Human Services are using an AI tool built with ChatGPT to review annual Medicaid audits. — WSJ

Economy

• Mortgage rates hit a nine-month high this week, with the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rising to 6.51%.

Polls

• Public approval of President Trump’s handling of the economy has hit an all-time low of 33%.

Business

• Walmart issued a worse-than-expected financial outlook for the quarter.
• Meta reached a settlement with a Kentucky school district over accusations that the company intentionally designed its products to addict young people.

Courts

• The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that a dock company may sue cruise lines using facilities it once owned that have been seized and nationalized by the Cuban government.
• Federal prosecutors in Chicago dropped charges against immigration enforcement protesters.

World

• Health officials say that sweeping US aid cuts in Africa hampered early detection of the Ebola outbreak. — WaPo
• Germany charged two men with plotting to kill prominent leaders of Jewish and Israeli communities on behalf of Iran.

Iran War

• Defense Department assessments found that the US military has depleted much of its inventory of advanced missile-defense interceptors by defending Israel during Operation Epic Fury. — WaPo
• Iran’s supreme leader issued a directive saying Tehran’s near-weapons-grade uranium should not be sent abroad, a sticking point in negotiations with the US. — Reuters

Media

• As President Trump tries to silence late night hosts, they mock him more. — WaPo
• Stephen Colbert is preparing for the last-ever episode of The Late Show tonight.