Congress
Democrats sue Trump administration over mail-in-voting order
Democratic Party leaders filed suit Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s attempt to limit voting by mail ahead of the midterm elections.
Democrats argue that an executive order Trump signed at the White House on Tuesday, which creates an approved list of absentee voters among other actions, is an unconstitutional interference in the power of states to regulate elections.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors Association in suing to challenge the order.
“President Trump possesses no such authority to order such a sweeping change to American elections,” the suit argues.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for a comment on the lawsuit, but Trump dismissed the possibility of legal challenges to his order at the signing ceremony for the order.
“I don’t know how it can be challenged. … You may find a rogue judge,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “You get a lot of rogue judges, very bad, bad people, very bad judges. But that’s the only way that can be changed, and hopefully we’ll win an appeal.”
Trump’s executive order also threatens to withhold federal funds from states that don’t comply and directs the attorney general to investigate anyone who wrongfully distributes mail-in ballots.
It’s the latest escalation in Trump’s longstanding complaints about the way Americans vote as he pushes Congress to pass the GOP-backed SAVE America Act, which has cleared the House but faces an uphill battle in the Senate. He has falsely claimed on several occasions that voting by mail is uniquely vulnerable to voter fraud, despite the fact that he cast his own ballot by that method last week in a Florida congressional election.
Republican states have pushed ahead with their own plans to add citizenship requirements to voting laws, but the measures have also drawn swift legal challenges.
Democrats argued the executive order violates the First, Fourth, Fifth and Tenth Amendments and “dramatically exceeds his highly limited constitutional and statutory authority when it comes to regulating elections.” The lawsuit also argues that the Postal Service is being asked to go beyond its domain in building a list of eligible absentee voters.
Democratic attorneys general have been bracing for the possibility of the Trump administration interfering in this fall’s midterm elections, huddling in hotel conference rooms and over Zoom calls to war-game strategies to push back.
The top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee pushed back Monday against Democrats forming a House select committee that would be tasked with dealing with AI.
“I’m concerned that a Select Committee on AI would only further delay legislation,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), who is poised to assume the chairship of Energy and Commerce, and thus hold considerable sway over AI legislation, should his party retake the House in November.
Pallone’s comments come after Blue Light News reported that some Democrats were considering creating a select committee on AI in a Democrat-controlled House and that the idea was presented to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
“Over the last few years, we’ve had multiple task forces, policy reports, and a Democratic Commission,” Pallone said of Democrats’ efforts thus far. “Meanwhile, artificial intelligence technologies have continued to evolve exponentially. We simply cannot allow further delays — it’s time for action.”
House select committees are usually created by a full House vote and last only for the two years of the Congress that created them, and gaining buy-in from members who sit on other committees that currently oversee AI policy, like Pallone, could prove difficult.
Spokespeople for Jeffries and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who was one of the members who brought the idea to Jeffries, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy is giving more than $500,000 to Democratic national and state committees working to boost the party in the midterms.
Murphy will announce Monday — according to details first shared with Blue Light News — that he is investing $200,000 with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, $100,000 with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
He is also spreading a total of $125,000 across 25 state Democratic parties.
“Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda are failing the American people. Democrats can pass a new minimum wage, reign in Trump’s illegal war, and keep his billionaire friends in check,” Murphy said in a statement. “But we need majorities to do so. That requires investment.”
Murphy’s contributions come amid speculation that the lawmaker harbors 2028 presidential ambitions. They are also landing as Democrats believe they are within striking distance of winning the Senate majority after they’ve expanded the map and Trump’s numbers threaten to drag down Republicans.
In all, Murphy has contributed more than $2.5 million over the 2026 campaign cycle, including transferring nearly $250,000 to Democratic Senate candidates and raising more than $300,000 directly for Senate candidates. He also is expected to do more fundraisers in the final stretch of the midterms, saying that his aim is to support “candidates ready to build a populist movement.”
His support could bolster the candidates he backed in the primaries — including Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running to succeed retiring Sen. Tina Smith.
Murphy is part of a group of progressive senators who endorsed some candidates, like Flanagan, who were either not supported or running against candidates backed by the DSCC or Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
“His support has helped us build the momentum and resources we need to win,” Flanagan said in a statement of Murphy. “His leadership challenging the political influence of greedy corporations and fighting for working people is exactly what Washington needs more of, and I’m proud to have him in our corner as we work to bring a stronger, more people-focused vision to the Senate.”
The top executives running America’s most powerful artificial intelligence companies over the weekend agreed their industry needs to slow down — or risk humanity’s safety.
But the chance of Congress rushing to action in the coming weeks is next to zero.
One obstacle is the tight calendar before the midterms: Lawmakers return Monday, but the House is scheduled to leave by Friday and the Senate is already eyeing cutting their three-week session to two.
Another hurdle is the lack of momentum behind any plan. Senate Commerce could hold a markup of AI legislation this month, but it’s unclear a broad bipartisan AI safety bill being pushed by Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Amy Klobuchar will be finalized. Senators can’t yet agree on provisions that would hold AI labs legally accountable.
And some don’t think there’s a need to do anything right now: Senior House Republicans have largely stood in line with President Donald Trump, who has brushed aside concerns of an existential threat in light of the AI arms race against China.
— WHAT’S NEXT: Speaker Mike Johnson suggested lawmakers, Trump and tech execs as soon as Monday “go in a big room, close the door and sort this out.”
Yet Johnson in a Sunday interview on BLN threw cold water on the idea of Congress fast-tracking a legislative solution, arguing that setting industry-wide safety protocols should be the responsibility of the tech companies themselves.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, said AI would be “a high priority” during House Democrats’ weekly caucus meeting Tuesday.
But while he said Congress needed to “take decisive action to slow down the pace of development,” he didn’t articulate any plan for doing so.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is out with a statement Monday morning that’s also short on details — saying simply that while he understands concerns about giving China the advantage on AI, Congress needs to act to put “safe, responsible and accountable guardrails on it.” He called for legislation to cut off the flow of advanced AI chips and semiconductor technology to China to slow their development.
He’s also calling for an all-senators classified briefing from administration officials on how they plan to deal with the rapidly-evolving technology.
— ALARM BELLS: Meanwhile concern is brewing within the rank-and-file of both parties that could add political pressure:
Rep. Lori Trahan told Blue Light News in an interview Sunday it was a mistake for the House to leave town so early and that she’d push for members to stay longer to deal with the AI risk. Short of the whole House remaining in session, she’s suggesting at least a smaller group of negotiators stick around to hash out a plan.
“I just want to make sure that Congress is in a position to act quickly,” Trahan said.
She’s worried, though, that leaders won’t get behind her bipartisan legislation that would, among other things, create a possible emergency brake for AI models. It’s the only comprehensive bill of its kind that’s ready to work its way through committee.
Retiring Rep. Chip Roy is also sounding the alarm in an interview with Blue Light News about the need to “have some degree of guardrails” on technology that could fundamentally change what it means to be a “free human.”
And on the campaign trail, frontline Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday pointed to the tech executives’ warnings and said he believed AI development needed to slow down to allow the government to put a national security framework in place.
“The first role of our government is to keep us safe,” he said.
What else we’re watching:
— DATA CENTER VOTE ON TAP — House GOP leaders Tuesday plan to bring legislation to the floor to curb data center costs, marking lawmakers’ biggest step yet to regulate AI infrastructure. Meanwhile, Sen. Jon Husted is “having conversations on how the Senate can follow suit,” according to an aide. The decision to proceed this coming week signals that pressure has been building on leaders to act, underscored by the fact at least five House GOP frontliners have signed on as co-sponsors since Sept. 1: Reps. Bill Huizenga, Tom Barrett, David Valadao, Jen Kiggans and Mónica de la Cruz.
— GOP REVAMPS CRYPTO BILL — Senate Republicans late Sunday released revised text of a landmark cryptocurrency bill with key changes aimed at winning over Democratic holdouts, including new, White House-blessed government ethics language covering federal officials’ engagements with digital assets. It is unclear if the changes will be enough to win enough bipartisan support to advance the measure on the Senate floor this week. It is set for a key procedural vote Tuesday afternoon. Schumer convened Democrats to discuss the measure Sunday night, before Republicans unveiled their new text.
Ali Bianco, Kelsey Brugger, Nico Portuondo and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report.
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