Congress

Republicans clash over policy wishlist as they seek to boost their midterm message

Published

6 months ago

May 8, 2026

With six months before the midterm elections, many congressional Republicans are hoping they’re not done legislating yet.

A party-line bill funding immigration enforcement and White House security measures is now on a path to passage. But many in the GOP are already making a wishlist for yet another bill they want to pass under the fast-track budget reconciliation process.

The imperatives, they say, are clear: Their party needs to do more to address cost-of-living matters before voters go to the polls in the fall.

“The American people universally want us to do more than what we’ve already done,” Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) said in an interview.

Affordability, he added, “is the No. 1 issue that people are dealing with right now.”

It won’t be that easy. Not only are there different perspectives in the GOP over how to address high prices, the discussion over party-line legislation is tied up with a host of unrelated issues that could easily derail the delicate reconciliation process.

Those include funding for the ongoing war in Iran, tackling social service spending and a controversial elections bill that has stalled in the Senate — all of which have been subject of intraparty clashes this year.

While doubts have long persisted about the ability of the GOP’s thin House and Senate majorities to pass a followup to last year’s “big, beautiful bill,” the progress on the immigration enforcement bill has raised expectations that a third bite at the apple might be possible.

But nothing has motivated GOP lawmakers like the prospect of going into campaign season without having a robust agenda to run on — especially with the Iran conflict pushing fuel prices up about 50 percent in recent months.

Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) said he doesn’t want the war “to sideline us because of the fuel prices back here in America,” adding that “we’ve got to move quickly.”

“If we can get these affordability things fixed,” he said, “the American public will keep us in the majority.”

Here are five major areas of active GOP discussions:

Affordability sweeteners

If Republicans can agree on anything, it’s centering any additional reconciliation bill on addressing cost-of-living concerns. If the legislation comes together, it will likely be a grab-bag affair.

With a bipartisan housing bill stalled out for now, GOP lawmakers are discussing incorporating components of that measure into the party-line package that would benefit first-time home buyers, according to four people granted anonymity to share details of private conversations.

Members are also discussing allowing “portable mortgages” and other ideas aimed at addressing borrowing rates — something a top Trump pollster told Republicans to focus on as far back as December.

Many Republicans are also eager to address rising health care costs, even if the topic stands to prompt fierce GOP infighting.

“Health care reform should be a part” of any new bill, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said in an interview. “That’s another thing that’s driving costs.”

While Republicans allowed enhanced Obamacare tax credits to expire last year and are highly unlikely to revive them, Wittman said other smaller-bore GOP policy ideas in the health care space could make it into law.

A ‘fraud’ crackdown

The most sweeping and controversial piece of the GOP reconciliation push surrounds an effort to root out alleged fraud in social service programs that many conservatives claim could amount to tens of billions of dollars.

House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) is cheerleading for the crackdown, which would focus on programs administered by states. Arrington is also eyeing some Obamacare cuts aimed at making the program more “efficient.”

An effort to roll back Medicaid and food-aid spending generated huge internal problems during last year’s megabill debate, but Arrington said the GOP could not skip a chance to crack down on wasteful spending.

“It’s all over the people’s government, and we’ve got to do what we did in SNAP and Medicaid, and make sure that the tax dollars are flowing to the people who need them — to American citizens who depend on these programs,” he said.

But there is wariness among more vulnerable Republican members who could be subject to a barrage of campaign attacks about safety-net cuts.

“Don’t mix a lot of other stuff in there that could put members in a precarious position back home,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said in an interview, calling for a “very narrow” bill instead.

Iran war money

With Democrats unlikely to consent to any war funding, especially with hostilities unresolved, many Republicans want to add tens of billions of military dollars to a reconciliation bill to prevent a Senate filibuster.

Arrington, a fiscal hawk, said he expected Republicans to include “around $100 billion” to replenish military munitions amid the Iran conflict, along with additional defense funding.

“And then I think probably everything north of that is, how do we make our military more nimble, more effective, and how do we plan for deterrence and readiness in the future?” he added.

A larger Pentagon package could get more Republicans on board, but it would also force them to scramble for steep spending cuts to pay for it. A handful of at-risk Republicans are nervous about that idea, with some floating a separate package with new Ukraine aid as a way to entice some Democrats.

More tax cuts

The megabill was centered on massive tax cuts, and House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) is not about to pass up another chance to do more.

Some GOP lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, are eyeing a cut on capital gains taxes by allowing taxpayers to adjust those gains for inflation.

Smith and Arrington, along with other committee chairs and senior Republicans, tried unsuccessfully to press Speaker Mike Johnson to expand the scope of the pending immigration enforcement bill to include tax cuts and other policies.

“Opening the tax code should be part of this exercise,” Arrington said.

Parts of SAVE America Act

With the elections bill known as the SAVE America Act stalled in the Senate for the foreseeable future, some Republicans want pieces of the legislation to be included in a third reconciliation package.

Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he plans to draft a fiscal blueprint for what’s being touted as “Reconciliation 3.0” with those pieces in mind. House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) has also circulated a list of election integrity proposals that could be added to another party-line bill.

But the conservative hard-liners who are pushing for the SAVE America Act are highly skeptical that any meaningful provision of that bill could survive the strict Senate budgetary rules governing what can be included in a reconciliation bill.

They instead want the Senate to take up the elections measure as is — even if it means discarding the filibuster.

Congress

Scalise heads to Florida to boost several GOP candidates

Published

2 hours ago

October 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is heading to Florida to boost a raft of Republicans as the House GOP campaign arm launches new spending across the ruby-red state.

Republicans are working to ensure they prevail in a series of tight Florida races after they redrew several districts in their favor. Several GOP incumbents have warned the party needs to do more to help put out fires across these areas. Scalise is just the latest Republican leader who is looking to shore up candidates in once-thought-to-be-safe red territory.

Scalise will hold a GOTV rally Thursday with Republican Dan Green who is challenging Democratic Rep. Darren Soto in central Florida’s 9th District, according to an invite obtained by Blue Light News. Soto should be toast from the GOP redistricting effort, but he’s still hauling in significant fundraising and Democrats say their internal polling shows a tight race.

Over on the Gulf Coast, the National Republican Congressional Committee is also launching its first coordinated ad spending for Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on Wednesday. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, GOP governor nominee Rep. Byron Donalds and Sen. Ashley Moody, who is also up for reelection, are appearing at a Saturday rally with Luna.

President Donald Trump won Luna’s district by 13 points and Democrats have tried and failed to target her before. But Republicans are warning the headwinds are stronger this year and forcing a tighter than expected race.

Republicans are also working to shore up key seats in South Florida. Scalise will be with GOP Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar in the Miami area Friday, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, granted anonymity to share not yet public details. Salazar has raised alarm about Republican erosion with Hispanic voters in his district and other states over the Trump administration’s mass deportations.

Scalise will boost Ryan Elijah, the Republican who beat scandal-ridden Rep. Cory Mills in the primary in Florida’s 7th District, according to another person with direct knowledge of the matter, granted anonymity to speak candidly. The party feels better about the seat in recent weeks, especially more than they would have if Mills had won the GOP nomination.

The House Majority Leader will also hold events with Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast and Rep. Gus Bilirakis, according to the person.

Congress

Capitol agenda: The unknowns of a Sherrod Brown return

Published

8 hours ago

October 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats may be rooting for Sherrod Brown’s comeback, but they are not exactly prepared for what’d happen next.

If Brown wins on Election Day, Democrats likely face an uncomfortable choice: break longstanding party rules to restore his seniority on powerful committees like Banking, Agriculture and Finance or potentially make him start over at the bottom.

Complicating the issue: Brown will immediately need to prepare for a grueling re-election fight in 2028 and his campaign could greatly benefit from two years with a high-profile gavel. That’s because this midterm is Ohio’s special election where voters are selecting a senator to serve out the remainder of Vice President JD Vance‘s term.

Brown’s post, therefore, may not only deeply impact Democrats’ policy agenda but could also play a key role in the party’s success in winning the battleground seat in 2028.

Some members are already suggesting the party should try to find a middle ground.

“Some accommodation that recognizes he would not be a rank freshman would make sense. But that’s distinct from handing him back a leadership role at Banking,” said Sen. Chris Coons.

The Ohio Democrat served as the top Democrat on the Banking panel for a decade. He was also a longtime member of Finance as well as Agriculture, where he would also be the most senior member if his previous service counted.

To give Brown a gavel on Agriculture or Banking could set up clashes with the Democrats now expected to lead their party on the panels: Sens. Michael Bennet and Elizabeth Warren, respectively.

It would also break Senate Democrats’ caucus rules, and precedent is not on Brown’s side when it comes to making exceptions.

Still, aides and lobbyists around the panels expect Democrats will be eager to give Brown some sort of perch.

Those close to him have been encouraging him to seek the Agriculture gavel. It’d allow him to deliver valuable policy wins for Ohio’s rural areas, influence the farm bill if it gets punted to next year and help guide the direction of cryptocurrency regulation.

Another possibility that avoids an intraparty clash: hand Brown a seat on Appropriations, which could potentially give him a subcommittee gavel and federal funding clout.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has avoided any firm commitments on Brown’s seniority, saying last month when asked: “Let’s win back the Senate first.”

What else we’re watching:

— OMAR RAID RAISES QUESTIONS FOR GOP: House Republicans — including Majority Whip Tom Emmer — have publicly cheered on the Trump administration’s investigation of GOP boogeyman Rep. Ilhan Omar. But the raid raises thorny questions for GOP leaders about how aggressively Congress wants to defend itself — regardless of party — from encroaching federal prosecutors. Lawmakers’ work communications are protected from prosecutors’ scrutiny, with few exceptions, under the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause. That draws into question whether the emails, texts, and materials on Omar’s phone, which was seized in the raid, could legally be reviewed by Trump officials. So far, Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to weigh in on how the House’s legal team may defend Omar.

— TRUMP’S TRICKY FARM MONEY PROMISE: Trump’s move Monday to turn out GOP voters by promising to send farmers $8 billion in taxpayer money is already facing a reality check. The internal USDA taxpayer-funded account Trump is tapping doesn’t actually have enough money in it right now to make the payments, meaning Congress will have to approve new funds or the administration will have to take it from another program, according to three Trump officials granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Plus, farmers wouldn’t receive the payments until late November or early December at the earliest — well past Election Day, according to three people close to the plans.

Jasper Goodman, Grace Yarrow, Kyle Cheney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

This member is so frustrated with Congress he wants voters to sidestep it

Published

8 hours ago

October 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

At the end of one of the least productive Congresses in modern history, freshman Rep. Johnny Olszewski is so sick of the gridlock on Capitol Hill that he wants voters to bypass it entirely.

“It’s been a long two years,” the Maryland Democrat said in a Tuesday interview.

“One of the things that’s made it difficult as a new member is to see not only the dysfunction, but also the missed opportunities,” he added. “There are so many issues out there that Americans support that this Congress and frankly prior Congresses have failed to act on.”

Fed up with the lack of progress on popular policies like banning congressional stock trading, equipping police with body cameras or protecting in vitro fertilization, Olszewski is introducing a constitutional amendment Thursday, first shared with POLITICO, that would create a mechanism for voters to make federal law directly.

The measure would give voters 18 months to gather signatures from at least 5% of people who participated in the most recent presidential election in 25 states. Then any qualifying direct-democracy measure would be put on ballots for the next national election and need a 60% national majority to pass.

Votes to declare war or direct federal spending would not be eligible under the proposal.

“If we were acting, there’d be no need for this to come into play,” Olszewski said. “It would create a really important backstop for the American people to say, ‘You know what … irrespective of which party is in power, Congress is failing to meet not just our everyday needs but act on issues that we overwhelmingly support and want to see acted upon.’”

The amendment — which itself would require support from two-thirds of the House and Senate as well as three-quarters of states — is an incredible longshot and would create serious implementation headaches, but Olszewski — a former civics teacher — hopes his proposal will spark a discussion about congressional reform.

“I understand that any constitutional amendment is going to be difficult,” Olszewski said. “But I’m hopeful that at least for the lame duck session, this is an opportunity to create a conversation around the fact that we have been so gridlocked that we have failed to address the needs of the American people.”