Congress
House clears critical hurdle to advance three major priorities
House Republicans cleared the way for consideration of a key spy power sought by President Donald Trump — as well as the farm bill and the blueprint for funding immigration enforcement agencies that remain shuttered amid the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
It’s a major victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, whose chamber has been in a state of paralysis as lawmakers worked through Monday night and all Tuesday to reach an agreement with hard-liners to advance the three legislative priorities.
Lawmakers adopted the procedural measure Wednesday, 216-210, after fierce opposition from several members of the GOP conference over various issues related to the farm bill and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which will expire Thursday. Leaders spent over two hours on the floor flipping votes and wooing holdouts.
GOP leaders have been locked over the past week in intense negotiations with members who wanted to amend the program — which allows the government to surveil foreigners outside the U.S. without a warrant — to include guardrails on the warrantless surveillance of American citizens.
Many hard-liners have also been demanding a permanent ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a digital currency be added to any reauthorization. GOP leaders acceded to that demand, agreeing to combine the Section 702 extension with the digital currency ban upon passage. But the gambit is unlikely to survive in the Senate, where the issue has long been stalled.
“That’s not happening,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview about linking the two matters.
The successful procedural vote will also allow lawmakers to proceed to consideration of the latest farm bill — which would be the first blanket reauthorization of agriculture programs since 2018 — which GOP leaders hope to pass with help from several Democrats.
Some hard-liners are upset over GOP leadership’s plan to tack legislation onto the farm bill that would allow for year-round sales of the fuel blend known as E15 at the insistence of farm-state Republicans. Fiscal hawks balked at estimates showing it would cost $1 billion.
Republican leaders separately agreed to allow a floor vote on an amendment from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) that would remove a prohibition on states creating pesticide labeling laws that differ from EPA guidance — a major priority of health-focused Trump supporters.
Finally, the procedural vote sets up consideration of the fiscal blueprint the Senate adopted last week that would allow Congress to craft a budget reconciliation package addressing funding only for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, rather than a wider range of conservative priorities.
Republican leaders and the Trump administration insist the GOP needs to advance the Senate’s product without changes in order to quickly reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down since Feb. 14.
As with the farm bill, however, grumbling within the ranks remains, particularly among conservatives who want to expand the scope of the budget resolution to include other items on the GOP policy wishlist.
Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
The Senate is aiming to leave town Friday for a five-week recess. They’ve got to finish a mountain of work first.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday night the chamber is hoping to pass a stopgap funding bill as well a long-stalled Russia sanctions bill Friday. They are also set to confirm dozens of nominees and — Republicans hope —Todd Blanche as attorney general if he can win the support of Sens. Lisa Murkowski or Bill Cassidy.
Thune indicated Blanche’s fate was still uncertain and that leaders were “still working to get the final vote.”
Republicans will also hold an initial vote on a budget blueprint for a third party-line spending bill, Thune said, as well as a vote related to the SAVE America Act.
“I would expect that would be in whatever the final tranche of votes [is],” Thune said about an initial vote on the budget resolution.
Senate Republicans, as Blue Light News previously reported, don’t believe the budget resolution has the votes within the conference to be adopted. Instead, the Senate is expected to hold an initial vote that will fail to clear a simple majority threshold.
The decision to hold that vote comes after two Republican senators, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Thursday that they believed Sen. Mike Lee of Utah or another member of the GOP’s right flank would force a vote regardless on the framework, which they are able to do under the chamber’s rules.
Any single senator could still object to expediting the chamber’s agenda, which would derail Thune’s goal of getting members out of town by the end of the day Friday.
The majority leader teed up a final vote on the Russia sanctions legislation for Friday morning, a confirmation vote for dozens of nominees and another procedural step on a stopgap funding bill.
Leadership is hoping they’ll get a deal later in the day to finish other business, including passing the CR, advancing a college sports bill, confirming Blanche and voting on the budget resolution.
“We’ve been having these conversations with Democrats trying to figure out what’s the path – so we’ve tried to set up a series of votes to deal with all the unfinished business with one exception, so anyways we’ll see how it goes,” Thune said.
A bipartisan counteroffer for ethics language in a major cryptocurrency bill would force President Donald Trump and other federal officials to divest any ownership stake in a digital asset company if it is worth more than $1 million and represents 10 percent or more of the firm’s value, according to three people with knowledge of the language who were granted anonymity to discuss private negotiations.
The restriction applies to ownership stakes in firms that obtain most of their revenue from issuance or sponsorship of digital assets, the people said.
The offer for ethics language in the crypto bill was sent to the White House last week by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). Democrats, who rejected a previous White House-blessed GOP ethics proposal, are demanding the provision be in the bill to address concerns about the Trump family’s crypto businesses. It is unclear how exactly the language would apply to Trump, but it could require him to divest from World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm he launched with his sons.
The ethics language in the bill, known as the Clarity Act, remains the subject of ongoing discussions. Tillis told reporters Thursday afternoon that his office has had “discussions” with the White House, “but there’s no exchange of paper” so far.
The counteroffer would allow state attorneys general to sue the Justice Department for not enforcing the ethics requirements. It would also allow state AGs to sue crypto exchanges for listing assets that are in violation of the ethics requirements.
The state AG authorities have been a major sticking point in the ethics talks. Democrats say they don’t trust the Trump Justice Department to enforce any ethics rules, but Republicans have pushed back on proposals to create a role for state AGs, saying they could use the language to go after politicians in the opposite party.
Gallego said in a statement that “this sensible, bipartisan ethics deal ends Trump’s crypto grift by requiring him to divest and stops him from making one dollar more from his rug pulls.”
“If these provisions were law before Trump got into office, they would have prevented the $1.4 billion in corrupt earnings he’s made this term,” he said.
Tillis said in a statement that he has “made it clear” that he “will be voting to get on the Clarity Act but won’t support final passage without a bipartisan ethics agreement.”
“We have worked on a fair proposal that directly addresses the legitimate concerns of both Republicans and Democrats, including enforcing the law and preventing state attorneys general from abusing litigation for partisan purposes,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
Republican supporters of the crypto bill have been hoping to hold an initial procedural vote on it before the Senate departs for its August recess, but GOP leaders are not currently expecting to take it up before leaving. The ethics fight is the biggest sticking point in bipartisan talks, though other outstanding policy issues also remain. The legislation needs bipartisan backing to advance.
The ethics counterproposal transmitted last week would also cover federal officials who have stakes in crypto firms that are less than $1 million. It would require any official who has an ownership stake of more than $15,000 to place those holdings in a blind trust or divest.
The ethics requirements would take effect one year after the bill is enacted into law. Officials would have six months after that to comply with the divestment requirement.
Bloomberg previously reported that the divestment proposal could let Trump take advantage of a tax break that allows federal officials who divest from certain assets to put off paying capital gains tax.
Vice President JD Vance fielded questions on Iran — lots of them — during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans Thursday.
Vance’s visit to Capitol Hill came as the Senate is trying to wrap up a massive to-do list ahead of a planned five-week recess — including unfinished work on a spending stopgap, Russia sanctions and cryptocurrency regulations, as well as possible votes on a party-line spending bill and the GOP elections legislation President Donald Trump desperately wants enacted.
But senators emerging from the lunch said the dominant topic was instead the administration’s ongoing negotiations with Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending months of hostilities that have put upward pressure on prices.
Some Republicans urged Vance to provide more transparency as polling shows that the conflict is unpopular with many Americans with the midterms just three months out.
“The vice president responded to questions, and a lot of the questions were about Iran,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).
Kennedy said he suggested that Vance and other top administration officials go on TV or hold a news conference to explain what was happening and why.
Vance, according to multiple GOP senators, detailed how much damage the U.S. has done to Iran’s military since strikes began in February. Republicans said they also discussed the state of the Pentagon’s munitions stockpile during the lunch amid reports that some weapons are running low — something Trump denies — and as the administration pushes for a $1.5 trillion defense infusion.
“That was one of the things I wanted to talk about because I’m on Defense [appropriations],” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) when asked if there was a concern Congress wasn’t approving money fast enough. “We went through the impacts and timing and how they’re managing that. But they’re doing a good job.”
Trump announced earlier this month that a deal with Iran to reopen the strait, a vital global oil corridor, was imminent. Vance, according to the senators, said that the administration is “hoping” to get an agreement.
“But they have to trust and verify, not just trust — so verify whatever it is that they offer, and then maintain it,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “And if they back out, then we’re still right back in their face again.”
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