Congress

House Republicans roll out 7-week funding patch as shutdown looms

Published

1 year ago

September 16, 2025

House GOP leaders released text Tuesday afternoon of a stopgap funding bill that would provide tens of millions of dollars in security assistance for lawmakers and other federal officials amid growing concern about political violence.

The 91-page measure would head off a government shutdown on Oct. 1 and keep federal agencies funded through Nov. 21, as well as provide $30 million for lawmaker security and a total of $58 million in security assistance the White House requested for the Supreme Court and executive branch. While GOP leaders plan to call a floor vote later this week, it’s still unclear whether Democrats will vote in support of the bill, with President Donald Trump calling on congressional Republicans to stiff-arm the minority party in government funding negotiations.

Some House conservatives voiced opposition to the funding patch even before GOP leaders unveiled it, including Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a frequent “no” vote. But House GOP leaders believe they have the votes to push the measure through the House by Friday and jam Senate Democrats, even if no House Democrats vote in support.

“They have chosen not to engage Democrats,” California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the House Democratic Caucus chair, said Tuesday. “So my assumption is that they have the plan, and they have something that has the votes.”

If the House does succeed in passing the spending patch later this week, it will pressure Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to hone his demands ahead of the shutdown deadline, since votes of Democrats are needed in the Senate to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

“Our Republican colleagues can say whatever they want. But it is clear as could be that they want a shutdown,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Tuesday morning. “Their actions show they clearly want to shut things down because they don’t want to negotiate with Democrats.”

Republicans note that Schumer has yet to publicly define policy or funding ultimatums ahead of the shutdown deadline, however, as he and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stick to broad criticism of Republican cuts to health care.

“House is gonna do what the House is gonna do,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said about GOP leaders moving ahead with a stopgap funding patch.

“Sen. Schumer continues to just talk in concepts and platitudes. And until he puts something on the table, there’s nothing to do,” he added.

The funding in the bill to heighten security for congressional lawmakers, including when back home in their districts, comes in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The additional $30 million would boost a longstanding program allowing members of Congress to request security through partnerships between the Capitol Police and state and local law enforcement agencies, which has seen a surge of interest from lawmakers. The funding is available to both the House and Senate.

“What we have seen is a broad uptick over the course of the past year of members utilizing the programs,” House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) told reporters Tuesday morning.

A separate pilot program allowing members to hire private security is slated to end later this month, Steil said, but added that House leaders “can always look at reappropriating currently available funds” to continue it.

The $58 million in emergency funding for extra Supreme Court and executive branch security comes as the White House cites a surge in threats against justices and other public officials in the aftermath of Kirk’s killing.

Fulfilling another White House request, the bill allows the Trump administration to spend whatever funding is necessarily on the WIC nutrition program that serves low-income pregnant women, infants and children. Without that funding leeway, states wouldn’t be able to provide assistance to everyone who is eligible, the White House warns.

The measure also includes the so-called “D.C. fix” which would allow the capital city’s government to spend its full budget, which is mostly funded through locally raised funds, through September 2026. Congress blocked that authority in mid-March by leaving out routine language in the stopgap passed in the spring, blowing a roughly $1 billion hole in the city budget.

The measure introduced Tuesday does not include any of the health care proposals that have been percolating on Capitol Hill, such as extending enhanced tax credits for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Low- and middle-income Americans who rely on the program will start to receive notices about higher premiums in the coming weeks, and health insurers will soon lock in pricing. But GOP leaders want to punt the fight, which is deeply divisive within their ranks, to later in the year.

“We have until the end of December to figure all that out,” Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday morning.

Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

24 minutes 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

38 minutes 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.

Congress

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras

Published

6 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Flock has faced severe public backlash against the surveillance technology following reports that police officers misused the technology to track women, and it has the largest network of license plate readers across the U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hosted a hearing last month probing its potential misuses, although the company’s CEO Garrett Langley did not appear.

The latest bill, unveiled Friday and named the Ban Flock Act, would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers or accessing data from the technology and prevent federal grants from funding states and local governments that use automated license plate readers.

“At a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” Sanders, who has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI technology, said in a statement. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Ocasio-Cortez similarly condemned the surveillance capabilities of the technology and said the bill would “enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

“No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips,” Merkley added.

Republicans have introduced similar efforts to regulate license plate readers, such as Hawley’s Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would require audits and limits on unauthorized searches.

Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.