Congress

Capitol agenda: Trump jumps into a GOP tax cuts conundrum

Published

1 year ago

June 12, 2025

President Donald Trump is bullish about wanting a “big, beautiful bill” on his desk in just three weeks. But to meet that goal, he’ll have to help settle a tricky tax fight.

Trump will huddle with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) at the White House this afternoon — the day before Senate Republican leaders want Crapo to release the bill text for the tax policy portion of the megabill. A likely discussion topic: Crapo’s pledge in a GOP conference meeting Wednesday to make three business tax cuts permanent.

The challenge isn’t about rounding up GOP support for larger tax deductions for research and development, debt interest and capital expensing. It’s how to pay for them all. The House-passed package already extends the three deductions through 2029, but making them fully permanent would cost an additional $450 billion.

At the same time, House fiscal hawks are demanding that any additional tax cuts be offset with dollar-for-dollar spending cuts. To achieve that, Senate Republicans will likely suggest watering down Trump’s campaign pledges to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay.

But the White House is making clear behind the scenes that would be a no-go.

“We’re not willing to entertain any scaling back of our signature promises,” a Trump administration official told Blue Light News.

GOP senators are eyeing another potential savings avenue: Lowering the state-and-local-tax deduction cap that the House had quadrupled to $40,000 as part of a crucial compromise with blue-state Republicans. Those SALT Republicans are now threatening to torpedo the bill if that’s changed — and House GOP leaders appear to be taking them seriously.

“Obviously, it was very heavily negotiated in the House and we don’t want to see it lower,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Blue Light News Wednesday.

There’s another reason Trump has every incentive to urge Thune and Crapo not to meddle with the House’s hard-fought tax provisions: He doesn’t want to slow down the process with any more “ping-pong[ing]” of the legislation between the two chambers, the administration official told Blue Light News.

As the White House works to convince the Senate Republicans to lay off the revisions, Senate leaders are working toward issuing final bill text on June 23, followed by a vote-a-rama the back half of that week, according to Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla). That would go a long way in allowing the House to meet the GOP’s self-imposed July Fourth deadline.

Thune is quietly threatening to keep senators in town into that recess week to make it happen. But some GOP senators are openly questioning whether they can wrap their version of the tax-and-spending package by that date, let alone pass the whole thing.

If the Senate is able to adhere to its own timeline, it’ll come down to whether Speaker Mike Johnson can get his members to swallow the Senate’s changes — and there’s no guarantee how quickly that will happen.

What else we’re watching:

— Rescissions gets a floor vote: Johnson is pushing ahead with a vote Thursday on a package to rescind $9.4 billion in funds Congress already approved for global aid and public broadcasting. House Republicans can only afford three defections if they have full attendance and all Democrats oppose as expected.

— Crypto bill teed up: The Senate majority leader is one step closer to passing one of Trump’s biggest priorities outside of the megabill after landmark cryptocurrency legislation cleared another procedural hurdle in a bipartisan vote Wednesday. Senators are on track to adopt new base text for the stablecoin regulatory framework and begin voting on the underlying measure bill later this week.

— A new SNAP proposal: Senate Agriculture Republicans Wednesday evening unveiled a new plan to slash the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But it’s far less aggressive than what was included in the House-approved megabill, making it potentially more palatable for at-risk and moderate Republicans.

Rachael Bade, Jasper Goodman and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate confirms Blanche as attorney general

Published

1 day ago

August 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate Saturday confirmed Todd Blanche to be attorney general, following a weeks-long struggle with a handful of wary Republicans.

The Senate voted 50-49 to approve him, with GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining with Democrats in opposition.

Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, has been serving as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi’s ouster in April. Questions about Blanche’s potential conflicts of interest from representing Trump, as well as his role in the creation of a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of Trump’s settlement this spring with the IRS, created headwinds to his confirmation among a key group of Senate Republicans.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who lost re-election after Trump endorsed a primary challenger, helped Blanche clinch his 50th vote Friday. He said Blanche wasn’t perfect but that he wasn’t sure Trump would pick someone better to lead the Justice Department.

“The choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche,” Cassidy said on the Senate floor. “It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.”

Cassidy’s support came after Blanche had already spent weeks negotiating with Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, who vetted his nomination as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cornyn struck an agreement with Blanche Sunday for the DOJ to curtail the payout fund and rein in a deal to exempt Trump from IRS audits.

Cassidy’s support came hours after Murkowski announced that she would oppose Blanche’s nomination, putting it on the brink of potential failure. Between unified opposition from Democrats and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s absence for health reasons, Blanche could only lose two Republicans and still be confirmed.

Hours before Friday’s vote, Murkowski told reporters she spoke with Blanche multiple times but that she was “good with where I am.” She said there was no “one” thing that motivated her decision.

“If there was one thing, we might be able to go back to the White House and say ‘Hey, can we work on this one thing,’” she said. “But for me it was a compilation.”

She added that she believed the anti-weaponization fund is “pretty dead” but “what is not so clear” are the audit immunity provisions of Trump’s IRS agreement, “which I just think are viewed by so many in this country as kind of a special and sweet deal for the president and his family.”

Congress

Senate passes funding bill to avert October shutdown

Published

1 day ago

August 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate passed a bill Saturday to fund the government beyond the midterm elections, putting the onus back on the House to head off a shutdown looming Oct. 1.

The Senate approved the measure in a bipartisan 90-6 vote, with Sen. Darline Graham of South Carolina voting present. The bill would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions. Senate leaders sped up consideration of the legislation as part of an agreement reached Saturday morning to allow members to leave for August recess.

The House and Senate have now each passed different bills aimed at averting a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year. The House bill would fund the government through Dec. 4.

The Senate legislation sets up a year-end standoff over the Trump administration’s controversial plan to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants. The bill would block the administration from finalizing that rule during the length of the stopgap — and lawmakers are already expecting a December brawl over the issue.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said this week that he’s going to “fight like hell” in December to ensure Congress doesn’t further obstruct the grant overhaul.

But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are resistant to the White House approach to grants. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she will “continue to oppose” the Trump administration plans “because I think they politicize the grants process, and I don’t want that to occur.” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on Senate Appropriations, said she too would “welcome the fight.”

The Senate rejected an amendment from Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) intended to ensure that a ban on intoxicating hemp products kicks in come November, after Senate leaders at the White House’s urging included language in the funding bill to delay it.

The Senate bill includes language Democrats sought to ensure Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol don’t get any new funding under the patch. Republicans enacted $70 billion for those agencies along party lines earlier this year.

That prohibition could be contentious in the House.

Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) said in an interview that the provision “could be a dealbreaker” and that he’s “not a fan” of the Senate version. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said Tuesday that he would say he’s undecided if GOP leadership whipped his vote on the Senate stopgap.

“I do not like the Senate language,” Van Drew said, noting the grant approval provision. “It’s one I would want to know what the president thinks.”

The White House issued a statement of administration policy in support of the Senate’s funding bill. No such memo was issued for the House bill, which did not include the funding increases and authorizations the White House requested.

“Every Member of Congress should support passage of this [continuing resolution] to keep the Government open as discussions on full year appropriations continue,” it reads.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democratic appropriator in the House, praised the Senate measure for including the grant and immigration enforcement language.

“This bill is a clear improvement over the House Republican continuing resolution, but we are still nearly two months away from the end of the fiscal year and should be working together to pass full-year funding bills,” she said in a statement.

Mia McCarthy and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate eyes the exit after GOP-Trump deal

Published

2 days ago

August 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate is aiming to leave Washington for a five-week recess early Saturday after Republicans cut a deal with President Donald Trump to punt some of their priorities, including a framework for a party-line spending plan.

The Senate is trying to lock in an agreement that would set up votes on a college sports bill, a stopgap government funding bill, Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination and GOP voter ID legislation, according to a copy of an internal notice reviewed by Blue Light News.

The Senate would then leave Washington until mid-September.

Any one senator could object to the tentative deal, forcing it to be altered or dragging the Senate deeper into the weekend. Senators believe there are still objections to advancing the college sports bill. Democrats are also waiting to see if one of their own will prevent speeding up Blanche’s confirmation.

The breakthrough is a U-turn from earlier Friday evening, when Republican senators emerged from a closed-door meeting predicting they would have to spend Saturday trying to break a stalemate within the party about how to wrap final votes before recess.

Shortly after that meeting, Trump spoke by phone with Senate Republicans including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah about the path forward for the GOP’s lengthy to-do list.

During the call, according to Johnson, Trump agreed to punt a vote on a budget blueprint for a third party-line spending bill until later in the year. Lee, who has been pushing for action on the separate SAVE America Act, also agreed to drop his demand for a formal, roll call vote on adjourning given the understanding with the president.

“I think the conclusion of the conference – and we had a discussion with the president and he agrees – [is] don’t take the vote tonight,” Johnson said after the meeting in Thune’s office.

Republicans were in talks with the White House throughout Friday. A White House official granted anonymity said Friday evening that “we’re continuing to have productive conversations with senators to advance several legislative priorities.”