Congress

House Republicans back up Trump on DC crime push

Published

1 year ago

August 11, 2025

House Republicans moved quickly Monday to follow President Donald Trump’s lead as he took unprecedented action to target Washington’s locally elected government — further heightening the GOP’s scrutiny of the capital city and its Democratic elected leaders.

Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he would haul Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chair Phil Mendelson and Attorney General Brian Schwalb to Capitol Hill next month for a hearing. The public grilling is likely to come as Trump’s takeover of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department approaches a 30-day expiration date, requiring congressional action to continue.

“For years, the D.C. Council’s radical, soft-on-crime agenda has emboldened criminals and put public safety at risk in our nation’s capital,” Comer said in a statement.

His voice was one of many in the GOP who hailed Trump’s moves Monday to seize control of the D.C. police force and deploy the National Guard in the capital. Speaker Mike Johnson, for instance, said in a post on X that “House Republicans support this effort to CLEAN UP Washington, END the crime wave, and RESTORE the beauty of the greatest capital in the world.”

While violent crime reached a 30-year low in the city last year, Republicans argue Washington is unsafe and poorly governed. A spate of carjackings and several other recent high-profile incidents have captured GOP attention on Capitol Hill, including the murder of an intern for Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.) and the assault last week of a Trump administration staffer.

Comer in his statement said his panel would also be “advancing legislative solutions to protect Americans in their capital city.” During a news conference Monday, Trump called for the reimposition of cash bail, which has been largely abolished in D.C. for more than 30 years, while U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro called for congressional action to overturn “absurd” juvenile justice laws that she said provided too much leniency for young offenders.

An Oversight Committee spokesperson said the panel would work to advance legislation introduced by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) that would limit “youth offender status” to those 18 years old or younger. Currently, those 24 or younger can qualify as youth offenders in the District.

The legislation from Donalds would also require the D.C. attorney general to publicly track juvenile crime in the city and bar the locally elected D.C. Council from passing provisions to change its sentencing rules.

The bill passed the House last year in a bipartisan 225-181 vote but did not advance in the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats. The spokesperson said the committee was considering additional legislation but did not provide details. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a member of GOP leadership, is also working on legislation to reverse no-cash-bail policies nationwide.

It’s unclear how soon any D.C.-related legislation might hit the House floor. Lawmakers are now on their extended summer recess, and House GOP leaders expect the Oversight Committee to start advancing a slate of bills in September. That means floor action could be delayed until later in the fall, depending on how quickly the panel works through its process, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss internal planning.

House Republicans may be forced to deal with city-related matters sooner, however. Trump’s executive action Monday commandeering the Metropolitan Police started a 30-day clock for presidential control, as provided for in the 52-year-old law establishing the city’s locally elected government.

Extending Trump’s control of the department would require congressional action — forcing the White House and GOP congressional leaders to make a decision as they also deal with messy internal fights over whether to force the release of more documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case and a politically explosive congressional stock trading ban.

In a letter sent to Blue Light News Monday informing of the police takeover, Trump said he would retain control “until I have determined, in consultation with the Attorney General, that the emergency has ended or for the maximum period permitted” under federal law.

Trump made no mention of seeking extended control of the department at his news conference Monday morning, where he was flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials. He instead called on lawmakers to address the District’s longstanding bail policy, which allows criminal suspects to be released pending trial without putting up any money.

“We’re gonna change no cash bail, we’re gonna change the statute and get rid of some of the other things,” Trump said. “And we’ll count on the Republicans in Congress and Senate to vote, we have the majority, so we’ll vote. We don’t have a big majority, but we’ve gotten everything, including the great Big Beautiful Bill.”

Democrats, meanwhile, sharply objected to Trump’s moves in social media posts Monday, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying Trump has “no basis to take over the local police department” and “zero credibility on the issue of law and order.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (R-Md.) said he would introduce legislation that would immediately end Trump’s police takeover. He, too, called it a “phony, manufactured crisis” and recalled Trump’s actions dealing with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — where a mob of his supporters assaulted police and were later pardoned.

While Republicans can likely push D.C.-related bills through the House on party lines, Democrats in the Senate could use the filibuster to keep them from reaching Trump’s desk. Vaulting that obstacle would require a 60-vote majority, and it’s unlikely that Democrats — who have long championed political autonomy for the District’s largely Democratic populace — would join their Republican colleagues en masse. But it could force some vulnerable Senate Democrats into tough votes over crime and safety ahead of midterm elections.

A spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declined to comment on Democrats’ plans for any such legislation, pointing instead to a social media post from Schumer Monday calling the executive actions a “political ploy and attempted distraction from Trump’s other scandals.”

Nicholas Wu and Calen Razor contributed to this report.

Congress

Trump apparently shares Tom Cotton’s phone number in push to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

Published

22 hours ago

October 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump appeared to share Sen. Tom Cotton’s phone number in a Saturday morning social media post imploring the Arkansas Republican to get behind a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

“Almost everybody wants “The Sunshine Protection Act” to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

The president has spent months personally pushing Senate Republicans to end the practice that sees Americans change their clocks twice a year, cementing more sunlight hours in the evening for all twelve months of the calendar. Cotton, whom Trump called “a friend of mine” in the Saturday post, has long argued that making daylight saving time permanent would leave children, farmers and other early risers in the dark for hours on winter mornings.

One of Trump’s key selling points on Saturday: the PGA tour.

“The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments,” he said, attaching a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp endorsing the bill. ”Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps most importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work.

A Blue Light News call to the cellphone number went to voicemail. A spokesperson for Cotton did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The current version of the bill was introduced in the House in January 2025 by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) leading the Senate version. The legislation would make daylight saving time permanent across most of the country, ending the twice-yearly clock changes. The legislation has been stalled in the Senate since July.

The president encouraged supporters of the bill, dubbed the “The Sunshine Protection Act,” to call Cotton to “let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he publicly gave out the personal cellphone number of then-rival Sen. Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina Republican criticized him. Trump, who came to count on Graham as a reliable Senate ally after he won the presidency, revisited the moment during Graham’s funeral in July, acknowledging that sharing the number was something he “shouldn’t have done.”

Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.