New: Trump's picks to lead the CDC, Surgeon General's office, and ASPR have been meeting w/ senators on HELP over the last few weeks, as agencies under HHS suffer a leadership vacuum. There's a sense of urgency underlying these noms: - The U.S. is facing a number of outbreaks domestically and abroad, including cases of Ebola, hantavirus, screwworm, and measles. CDC has been without a permanent leader for nearly 9 months, while ASPR Surgeon General's office has lacked Senate-confirmed leaders since the beginning of Trump's second term - Cassidy—who lost his reelection last month—has roughly six months left to finish out his priorities on the cmte he runs, and that includes vetting this tranche of nominations - End-of-year schedule for the Senate looks rough. Lawmakers will be out of town most of August and Oct. Leadership has been encouraging cmtes to finish consideration of nominees quickly for the next en bloc package expected in the fall, per source familiar. OGE paperwork could mess up the timeline (Senate HELP hasn't received paperwork from the CDC or Surgeon General nominees) nationaljournal.com/s/732100…

Scoop: HHS plans to appoint ER doc Mark Shirley as chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. He was picked by his daughter, HHS employee Malia, who has been in charge of screening USPSTF candidates. notus.org/healthcare/hhs-us-…

News: Trump nominates Jay Clayton as DNI. House just held their last vote of the week a couple of hours ago. The Senate is expected to finish voting today. FISA is expected to expire at the end of Friday night…

Some exciting news folks: After nearly two years at the @TheNJGlobe, @zachblackburn23 is coming back to Hotline as our new House campaign correspondent! I couldn't be more excited to have Blackburn back in the fold. Give him a follow and add him to your press lists!

SCOOP: Despite insisting that a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund has been scrapped, the administration is quietly assuring allies that payout plans remain on track, @S_Fitzpatrick reports. theatlantic.com/politics/202…

INCREDIBLE SCORE BY THE KNICKS WOW

News: Bipartisan $35 insulin bill now has enough votes to clear a filibuster. Sen. Jim Banks is joining, becoming 13th Republican -- and all 47 Senate Democrats support the bill from Shaheen, Collins, Kennedy, Warnock semafor.com/article/06/10/20…

News moves fast—Warner says he could supportive of a short-term extension *if* the Senate-confirmed No. 2 leader of DNI, Aaron Lukas, is the acting director instead of Pulte for the duration.

News: Senate Dem leaders just hotlined a short-term FISA 702 extension to July 2nd

Some Dems are warm to the idea of a short-term extension of FISA as the president looks to nominate a permanent director of DNI: Schatz (who's in leadership): "I'd be open to it. I want to understand what the context of the negotiation is." Says he still needs to talk to Intel ranking member Mark Warner, but says "notionally, we're headed in the right direction." Shaheen: "Depends on who the nominee is." Others, not so much. Many of them are demanding Bill Pulte to be pulled as acting director before they'd support a short-term extension. Kelly: "Take him out, and then we can renew FISA... He shouldn't be doing this. He's not qualified." Warner wouldn't answer qs on whether he'd support a short-term extension, but says he still has "huge concerns of Bill Pulte getting the keys to these 18 agencies."

Trump says that he'll look to nominate a permanent head of DNI—provided that Congress send a short term extension of FISA "to provide time for the selection and confirmation of a permanent Head of the Agency." truthsocial.com/@realDonaldT…

Rep. Nancy Mace R-SC not even making the top three in the GOP Governor's race in her home county

New: Sen. Gallego has hired former Biden press secy. Andrew Bates to focus on crisis communications, including any dealings with the Ethics Committee or fallout from Gallego's friendship with former Rep. Swalwell axios.com/2026/06/09/democra…

Cassidy on whether he'll be able to support Blanche as AG: "I have to be convinced that Todd is not the president's personal attorney, who happens to be attorney general, but that Todd is the attorney general who used to be the president's personal attorney. Do you follow what I'm saying?"

News: Sen. Bill Cassidy says he met with Erica Schwartz, Trump’s nominee to lead the CDC, today. “Very impressive, but I’ve met her before,” the HELP chair said of the nominee. “That was a very good meeting.”

Thune defends the parliamentarian despite Trump’s call to fire her (again): “That's not a new request, as you all know. And as is typically the case, the parliamentarian rulings break both ways. And if we lose a few, we win a few. That’s been true when Democrats have been in the majority too.” 
“That's a hard job. It's a very specific skill set, and you need somebody that is going to be a fair referee when it comes to this stuff.”