The White House plans to send Congress an emergency funding request to address the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and other pressing needs as soon as Friday, according to three people who were granted anonymity to discuss the request ahead of the release. The bridge’s collapse earlier this year severed a key East Coast transportation link and disrupted shipping into Baltimore Harbor. Administration officials have told lawmakers in recent months that the bridge and addressing other losses is expected to cost billions of dollars, likely enough to deplete an emergency relief fund through the Federal Highway Administration. It’s unclear whether the administration’s emergency funding request — which is also expected to address disaster-related and internet connectivity needs — would get a standalone vote or if it could be attached to a must-pass bill, like a stopgap spending measure that Congress will almost certainly have to pass in order to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1, when federal cash expires. The White House budget office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. House Republicans moved forward Thursday on their push to hold President Joe Biden’s ghostwriter in contempt of Congress — yet another escalation in their fight over former special counsel Robert Hur’s report. The Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to advance a resolution to hold Mark Zwonitzer, who ghost wrote Biden’s memoirs, in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for records related to his work with Biden. “The committee needs the information we subpoenaed from Mr. Zwonitzer. No legal or constitutional privilege protects the subpoenaed information. … His willful refusal to comply with our subpoena constitutes contempt of Congress,” Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said. Jordan subpoenaed Zwonitzer earlier this year demanding that he turn over a slew of records, including evidence of payments for his ghostwriting work, any recordings with Biden and communications with Biden or his staff. Republicans noted, in their report, that Zwonitzer hadn’t turned over any of the requested records and that his attorney had indicated that they had concerns about the letter. Jordan noted on Thursday that they want more information from Zwonitzer to help determine whether Hur made the right decision in not charging Biden over his improper retention of classified documents. It’s the second person Republicans have moved to hold in contempt due to subpoenas related to Hur’s report. GOP lawmakers voted earlier this month to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for refusing to hand over audio of Biden’s interview with Hur. The Justice Department quickly informed Speaker Mike Johnson that Garland would not face charges for refusing to hand over the audio, which Biden asserted executive privilege over. Republicans are expected to file a lawsuit against the Justice Department next week and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) plans to force a vote Friday to allow the sergeant at arms to arrest Garland and bring him before the House. It’s unlikely that measure will pass. Republicans are probing Hur’s investigation as part of their sweeping impeachment inquiry into Biden, which has largely focused on the business deals of his family members. Though Republicans have continued digging for information, GOP leaders don’t have the votes to impeach Biden. A swath of Republicans have repeatedly said that investigators haven’t shown clear evidence that Biden committed a crime or impeachable offense. Democrats on the committee blasted Republicans for moving to hold Zwonitzer in contempt, arguing that Republicans were trying to help former President Donald Trump and “bullying and intimidating a private citizen.” “This contempt resolution against Mr. Zwonitzer is an abuse of the committee’s oversight authority,” said New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Nadler also noted that the committee received a letter earlier this week that the White House counsel sent to Zwonitzer’s attorney. That letter said that the majority of information that Biden gave to Zwonitzer is “private” and that he was “not authorized” to hand over Biden’s information until it had been reviewed for “executive branch confidentiality concerns” and a deal had been reached between the Judiciary Committee and the White House. Mark Rutte is grabbing the reins of NATO at a perilous time for the alliance — but he’ll be starting with effectively a blank slate among U.S. lawmakers. House members, even those with extensive foreign policy portfolios, say they’ve yet to hear from the incoming secretary general of NATO and many lawmakers know next to nothing about him. That means Rutte, who the alliance formally selected as its next leader on Wednesday, will have significant work to do to establish and develop relationships with U.S. lawmakers tasked with doling out dollars and military assistance internationally. Democrats who do know the incumbent Dutch prime minister had warm words about his capabilities even as they acknowledged potential friction — particularly if former President Donald Trump regains the White House. Current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg still holds the post until Oct. 1, a possible reason U.S. lawmakers said they’d not yet had direct outreach from Rutte. “Having had to navigate European politics, I would say he’s well-prepared to handle ours as well,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), president of the NATO parliamentary assembly, told POLITICO. Connolly said he, along with a bipartisan U.S. delegation, met with Rutte last summer and found him to be “smart, accomplished, politically skilled, very affable, easy to relate to … I think our whole delegation liked him.” Republicans were a bit more circumspect, signaling they were looking forward to working with Rutte but not praising him outright. While Rutte is generally known for a low-key and consensus-building leadership style, he has directly confronted Trump multiple times, particularly after the then-president threatened to pull the U.S. out of NATO. Those threats could easily continue if Trump wins the White House, and NATO already has significant existing problems given the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “NATO is in place because people like Putin exist,” said Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), another member of the NATO parliamentary assembly. “You got to pull your own weight. Every country brings different capabilities to the table. All of our countries in NATO — whether it's manpower, whether it's technology — what they all need to bring to the table is commitment.” The prime minister’s experience in assembling complex coalitions makes Rutte a “great choice” to take over the alliance, according to Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), as NATO tries to insulate itself from possible attacks by Trump should he regain the White House. “He's widely respected, has a lot of support within NATO, which of course gets him off on a good start,” Crow, another member of the parliamentary assembly, said in a brief interview. “Secretary General Stoltenberg did an incredible job. Mr. Rutte, he's got big shoes to fill but I think he's up to the task.” House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who is also head of the U.S. delegation to the NATO parliamentary assembly, extended “sincere congratulations” to Rutte on Wednesday in a statement and said he looked forward to “strengthening the Alliance and bolstering our collective defense capabilities.” Conservatives pronounced themselves agnostic about Rutte's ascension, but indicated he should prepare himself for Trump to adopt a similar stance toward the alliance if Trump returns. “I would anticipate if President Trump was reelected that he will continue to support NATO, but press Europe to do its fair share in NATO,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a brief interview. “I think President Trump also will be rightly reluctant to engage in foreign adventurism. I think one of the mistakes of the Biden administration is being far too eager to engage in foreign adventurism,” the Texas Republican added. The offices of Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), leaders of the Foreign Relations Committee, didn’t respond to requests for comment on whether Rutte had reached out. The House Foreign Affairs Committee leaders, Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), said they knew Rutte — but Meeks said he not heard from him since he won the nod to lead the alliance. “The key is the dialogue and conversation between the NATO nations, to make sure everyone is doing their fair share and working together,” said Meeks. “And I think that if he does that [that] helps with every member — Democrat, Republican.” Miles Herszenhorn contributed to this report. A bloc of 70 Republicans supported an amendment from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that would prohibit any additional funding for Ukraine amid its ongoing war with Russia as the chamber considers a defense funding package. Support for Ukraine among House GOP members has eroded as the conflict continues, even though Congress ultimately approved a foreign aid package with funds for Ukraine earlier this year over conservative objections. Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers abruptly canceled a markup of her bipartisan privacy bill five minutes before the panel was set to deliberate on the controversial legislation, according to four people familiar with the matter. McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) has gotten heavy pushback from top GOP leadership over the bill, as POLITICO first reported. Members of her panel implored Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) on a call Wednesday night to tell McMorris Rodgers to delay the markup until issues with the bill are ironed out, according to one lawmaker on the call. Hours after the decision to pull the markup, McMorris Rodgers said the bill’s sponsors “needed to regroup” in the face of surging opposition from Republican leadership, the tech lobby and privacy advocates. “This is not how the House is supposed to work,” she told reporters outside the House chamber. “But we’re gonna get this done.” The E&C chair blamed “confusion and misrepresentation” for sinking the planned markup of both the American Privacy Rights Act and the Kids Online Safety Act at the last minute. The bills would impose new privacy obligations on companies that collect peoples’ online data and stop social media platforms from recommending potentially harmful content to minors, respectively. McMorris Rodgers said GOP leadership voiced objections to both bills, suggesting those concerns ultimately led to some members abruptly pulling their support. “I know at the beginning of the week, we had the votes,” she said. In a statement, New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the committee’s top Democrat and a co-sponsor of the privacy bill, pledged to continue working with McMorris Rodgers on comprehensive privacy legislation. He was less circumspect in his criticism of GOP leaders, calling it “outrageous that Republican Leadership would interfere with the Committee’s bipartisan regular order process.” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), another co-sponsor of the privacy bill and ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee, was similarly incensed. “I’m beside myself, I really am,” she told reporters on Thursday. “I’m so furious. ... We had an opportunity. I wanted to be there to pass the bill.” House E&C member Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) told reporters on Thursday that while she supported the broad objectives of the privacy bill, she would have voted against it had the markup gone ahead as planned. “Law enforcement has concerns, industry has concerns, some liberty organizations have concerns,” she said. “I think there's still many things that need to be worked out,” Cammack added. “And it's a process that is going to be complicated. It is a process that is going to be a very hard road.” In the minutes after the markup’s cancellation, House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X that he is “committed to working to build consensus in the House on a data privacy bill.” McMorris Rodgers seized upon his message, saying it showed Johnson believes it is “urgent for Congress to act on a privacy standard for all Americans, especially our children.” She said her committee would aim to reschedule the markup soon. An E&C aide, granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said there was no timeline for a rescheduled markup and it was too early to know whether it can be done ahead of the August recess. It is notoriously difficult for Congress to pass anything in an election year, and particularly rare for major legislation to advance after the August recess. Robert King contributed to this report. The top Senate GOP super PAC is going all in on Pennsylvania. The Senate Leadership Fund, a group with close ties to Mitch McConnell, is laying down a massive $24 million ad buy to help Republican Dave McCormick in his bid to unseat incumbent Bob Casey. It will run for a month beginning Sept. 3 and include broadcast and cable TV, radio and digital components. The investment is a sign of confidence in Pennsylvania, the first state where the super PAC has reserved air time outside of the more conservative states of Montana and Ohio. So far, the group is following the plans telegraphed by McConnell in the spring, when he said Republicans would play in Pennsylvania, Montana, Ohio and Maryland. SLF and its allied group American Crossroads have placed $82.5 million in Ohio ad buys for September through late October. In Montana, those two groups have reserved a combined $47.9 million. The National Republican Senatorial Committee revealed its first round of fall ad buys last week. Its independent expenditure arm is booking airtime in Ohio, Nevada, Michigan and Arizona, while the committee itself is planning joint ad buys with candidates in other states. McCormick already has his own dedicated group, the Keystone Renewal PAC, which has booked more than $30 million in ads to boost him throughout the summer and fall, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact.