Congress

Capitol agenda: Republicans prepare DHS punt

Published

9 months ago

February 9, 2026

With fewer than five days to go before a DHS shutdown, Senate Democrats have put bill text for a full-year funding compromise on the table. But another punt is probably still the best-case scenario, and it’s by no means guaranteed.

— What Democrats are pitching: The draft legislation Democrats sent Republicans Sunday would codify the immigration enforcement guardrails outlined by Democratic leaders last week, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the plans. They include new judicial warrant requirements and limits on masking by federal agents.

— Republicans review and prepare for CR: While getting bill text is generally a good thing for the process, after Republicans complained publicly into the weekend about the lack of specifics from Democrats, it hasn’t changed the endgame for this week. Republicans and the White House view some of the ideas as possible areas for negotiation, but it’s just highly unlikely all sides agree to a full-year DHS revamp by Friday at midnight.

Senate Republicans expect to begin taking procedural steps Monday to set up consideration of a DHS funding patch. Senate aides still hope there’s a way to prevent a DHS shutdown, and progress on negotiations could dictate how easy it is to get bipartisan buy-in for another CR. Most Democrats will be reluctant to punt.

— Shutdown still looks likely: Unless the Senate does the unexpected and clears a new CR for DHS by Wednesday, there probably won’t be enough time for the House to follow suit before the shutdown deadline. House GOP leaders have no plans to cancel next week’s recess absent clearer proof of progress in the Senate, meaning a DHS shutdown could take even longer to resolve.

What else we’re watching:

— Ghislaine Maxwell deposition: The House Oversight Committee will depose Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell virtually at 10 a.m. Monday. Maxwell is expected to invoke the Fifth Amendment and be uncooperative with questioning. House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) will be reviewing unredacted Epstein files, according to a spokesperson. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) will review the files as well.

— House moves on housing package: The House is expected to swiftly pass a sweeping, bipartisan housing supply bill from the Financial Services Committee on Monday afternoon. After that, it’s unclear how the House and Senate will come together on one of the country’s most urgent cost-of-living problems.

— DC tax bill advances: Senate Republicans are expected to act early this week to pass a measure that would force the District of Columbia to implement GOP tax cuts. The bill, which the House passed along party lines last week, would block a November D.C. budget law that tossed aside tax provisions from last year’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

Jordain Carney, Hailey Fuchs and Cassandra Dumay contributed to this report.

Congress

Katherine Clark launches majority leader bid

Published

1 hour ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts officially announced her bid for majority leader in a letter to colleagues Thursday.

Clark, currently the No. 2 to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is widely considered a shoo-in among her colleagues. She is currently unopposed, and if she wins, she would be the first woman with the title and most progressive member of the top leadership trio that is also expected to include Jeffries as speaker and Rep. Pete Aguilar as whip.

In line with leadership’s campaign message, Clark emphasized “Affordability, Affordability, Affordability” in her pitch to the caucus. Specifically, she named “ending the reckless war in Iran, rescinding Trump’s tariffs, reversing Republicans’ catastrophic cuts to healthcare and food assistance, curing off their giveaways to the Epstein Class, and pursuing rigorous oversight of this corrupt administration.”

To wrangle House Democrats’ massive majority — which is tracking to reach over 255 seats — Clark vowed to members: “At every decision point, I intend to work closely with you to understand the needs of your district and maximize your ability to deliver for your constituents.”

“Democrats will succeed by working as a team.” she added.

Clark will get a vote during House Democratic leadership elections scheduled for Nov. 18 and 19.

Congress

Trump loyalists face off to lead a decimated House GOP

Published

3 hours ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Republicans are responding to the resounding rebuke of their party by launching headlong into a leadership contest where neither candidate appears willing to break with the person congressional Republicans most blame for the sweeping midterm losses: President Donald Trump.

Both Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise are known to their colleagues as close Trump allies, and neither indicated they intend to put any daylight into their relationships with the president in their initial statements declaring their intention to run for minority leader.

Jordan, the longtime conservative brawler and sitting Judiciary chair, pledged to push back on Democratic excesses including “investigating every facet of the Administration and private entities across the country.”

Scalise, the current majority leader and a fixture of GOP leadership for more than a decade, also raised the prospect of pushing back against Democratic investigations and a possible Trump impeachment while telling colleagues that the president needed a “tested negotiator working alongside him to secure administration priorities.”

Those pledges to fight Democrats on Trump’s behalf came at the same time that other members were musing both publicly and privately about the president’s rapidly waning influence — and the imperative for lawmakers to start taking steps to craft a political future without him in it.

“Let’s start being a separate branch of government,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who is retiring at the end of the year, said in a text message about the election. “We’re not an appendage of the White House.”

Few House Republicans expect Scalise or Jordan to publicly break with Trump, which would be wildly out of character for either of them. Scalise traveled with the president during the final days of the midterm campaign season, and Jordan rose from a hard-right rabble-rouser to a cable-news fixture in part by embracing Trump.

Trump, for his part, said Wednesday he’s not planning to weigh in on the upcoming GOP leadership race that erupted immediately after Speaker Mike Johnson announced he would step aside as top House Republican in the next Congress.

“We’ll stay out of it,” Trump said. “All good people. I guess right now you have two candidates, right?”

Candidates in other House GOP leadership races similarly did not mention the need for the party to chart an independent course, but most stressed party unity and prioritizing members’ nuts-and-bolts concerns.

Members, meanwhile, spent Wednesday talking privately among themselves about the historic electoral wipeout — which could see Democrats win 260 seats, more than they’ve had since the early 1990s — and Trump’s role in bringing it about.

Trump responded to the loss by arguing Republicans simply do not vote if he is not on the ballot — cold comfort for lawmakers who will never appear on a ballot with Trump again.

A House Republican, one of several granted anonymity to speak candidly about the president and the upcoming leadership race, predicted many members would start creating distance from the president “quickly” upon their return to Washington as they come to terms with a post-Trump future.

“I’ve been totally wrong on that before,” the member added. But “I just don’t see how any amount of contorting can polish up this turd.”

Another GOP lawmaker lamented that Trump had not gotten more honest feedback from fellow Republicans sooner.

“They didn’t call him out on things they didn’t like, over fear of retribution,” the member said. “And that’s a real problem.”

It’s an open question whether Jordan or Scalise would be equipped to do that. Jordan, a founder of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, pitched himself in a letter to colleagues as an expert in combating the hard-nosed investigations that Democrats are pledging to launch into Trump and other targets.

“I am battle-tested on the oversight front and I know the Democrats’ playbook,” Jordan said in a letter to colleagues. “I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority, to stay unified, and to coordinate and calibrate our response to the Democrats’ tactics.”

Underscoring his support on the right, Jordan won an endorsement from the leader of the hard-line Club for Growth Wednesday. David McIntosh, a former House Republican, called Jordan “principled, politically savvy, [a] prolific fundraiser, and the best communicator” for the House GOP.

Scalise, whom many members see as the more moderate option, emphasized his past fundraising and legislative efforts and focused on the battle to regain the House majority — calling it his “number one goal as Republican leader.”

A third House Republican noted Scalise has to walk a fine line between being a known quantity and part of a leadership team that stayed tied to Trump’s hip.

“If people are looking for the steady hand, again, I think he’s a guy to watch,” the member said. “But we got our asses kicked. And are they going to blame Scalise for that or the president? … Johnson already did, but does his first mate have to walk the plank, too?”

In his letter, Scalise called on House Republicans to “stand united as one team, be smart and strategic to secure conservative policy wins where we can, closely coordinate our defense against aggressive oversight and together develop a clear vision and agenda to earn back the majority in 2028.”

But as the prospect of having to turn 40 or more seats sunk in on Wednesday, Republicans took stock of whether the majority would be back in reach in two years.

A fourth GOP lawmaker said the goal of 2028 flip was not “realistic” and said Republicans were better-served to adopt a battle posture as Democrats threaten investigations and impeachments. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the likely incoming Oversight chair, told targets Tuesday night to “lawyer up.”

“Is there somebody better built for that than Jim Jordan?” the Republican said.

Congress

Capitol agenda: House GOP’s old guard is in for a fight

Published

6 hours ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Republican leadership races after the party’s catastrophic losses are shaping up to be a battle between the old versus new guard.

Party elections are set for Tuesday morning and will test how closely GOP members — angry over Republicans’ deep defeats and eager to chart a different course — tie their existing leadership team to the thrashing.

The ballot appears to be largely set for the House’s top three GOP positions after Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not run for top Republican again. After sending letters to colleagues yesterday, candidates will make their pitches to the rest of the conference before members vote in a secret tally. Friday is the deadline to declare candidacy.

Several members told Mia the race fallout could get ugly between incumbents and challengers. Here’s how the contests are shaking out:

— MINORITY LEADER: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise has thrown his hat in the ring against Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan to lead Republicans over the next two years, and the battle is expected to be bitter.

It’s a repeat of a faceoff between the two men in 2023. And Scalise, while seen as the more “steady hand” as one Republican put it, is also the most tied to Johnson.

“We got our asses kicked,” the member said. “And are they going to blame Scalise for that or the president? And are Republicans going to be happy if there are no scalps on the wall? Johnson already did, but does his first mate have to walk the plank too?”

— WHIP: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, as expected, will try to keep his role, and Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger challenged him yesterday. It’s not a surprising move: many knew Pfluger was angling for a leadership perch.

Several House Republicans say Emmer has broad conference support. But Pfluger could try to argue that GOP leadership should have pushed for more in another party-line bill this year.

— CONFERENCE CHAIR: GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain got a surprise challenge Wednesday night from Rep. Erin Houchin for the No. 3 job, focused on messaging.

McClain released a list of 35 members supporting her and her experience yesterday. Houchin’s name, meanwhile, was floated by several Republicans as a potential rising star.

The wild card in the elections? President Donald Trump, whose endorsement could easily sway a race. As of Wednesday, however, Trump said he wouldn’t choose sides in the minority leader fight.

What else we’re watching:

— HOUSE DEM FACTIONS LOOK TO DISARM: After securing a huge majority, House Democrats’ warring factions say they are preparing to collaborate. This time last week, the progressive and moderate wings of the House Democratic Caucus were gearing up to battle for influence in what they thought might be a slim governing majority. But with some estimating the party will win as mean as 260 seats, the prospect of having a 30-vote-minimum margin to pass legislation means no one group will come to the table with an obvious edge that would handcuff the likely incoming speaker, Hakeem Jeffries.

— GOP TRIES TO SALVAGE LAME DUCK — Republicans had a long list of priorities to wrap up in the lame-duck session. But Democrats may not be in the mood to compromise after their midterm election victories. Republicans will have to prioritize what they want to accomplish in their waning days of congressional control once Congress returns next week. Must-pass legislation both parties want to finish includes funding the government to avoid a pre-holiday shutdown and passing the annual defense authorization bill. Also in flux: whether Democrats will vote to enact a permitting deal reached before the election.

Riley Rogerson and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.