Congress

Durbin: Replacing Sotomayor before new Congress not ‘realistic’

Published

2 years ago

November 12, 2024

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Tuesday that talk in Washington about Justice Sonia Sotomayor retiring and filling a Supreme Court vacancy before Democrats cede control of the chamber is “idle speculation” and not “realistic.”

“Whoever makes those calls [for a retirement] can’t count,” Durbin said. “Take a look at the calendar and tell me how in the world you could achieve that without setting aside the budget and the defense authorization act and all the other things that need to be done? I don’t think it’s a realistic idea.”

Many progressives have mounted a public pressure campaign for the 70-year-old justice to retire before the second Trump presidency, fearing a repeat of 2020, when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and Donald Trump replaced her with Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Sotomayor, though, has shown no openness to that idea, with close associates telling The Wall Street Journal that the justice intends to remain on the court.

Durbin told reporters he expected Democrats would continue aggressively processing judicial nominees throughout the lame-duck session — and hoped to reach consensus on a package of nominations, as Democrats agreed to in the waning days of the Trump presidency.

“I think we’ll reach that point,” he said of a package agreement.

Congress

Trump to Senate GOP: Adopt budget blueprint before August break

Published

55 minutes ago

July 24, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump is ramping up pressure on Senate Republicans to quickly advance a $95 billion budget blueprint — even as the mood on Capitol Hill signals GOP senators are inclined to wait until later this year, if ever.

“I am asking that the Senate adopt a Budget Resolution, which can pass with a simple Majority, before leaving for the August recess,” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. “We are ready to work side-by-side with the Senate to get this done for the American People!”

House Republicans approved the budget resolution before leaving town for weeks. It’s the first step in a two-part plan to use the reconciliation process to bypass the Senate filibuster and pass billions in funding for the Iran war, farm assistance and election-related grants.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t directly ruled out taking up the budget blueprint but warned Thursday that he doesn’t believe it currently has the votes to succeed.

“I can’t count to 50 right now on a budget resolution, but we’ll see. … The priority is funding the government, and so to me, that’s the thing we’ve got to keep our eyes on,” Thune said.

Most Senate Republicans don’t expect Thune to put the measure on the floor before the Senate leaves town in early August for its extended summer break given the deep concerns surrounding the House’s blueprint inside the GOP conference: Deficit hawks want offsets, defense and farm-state Republicans want more money for their priorities and some GOP senators aren’t convinced they should pursue a third reconciliation bill to begin with.

Even if Thune was able to overcome all of those hurdles, the Senate will need to change the resolution to add instructions for its committees to draft portions of the reconciliation measure itself — meaning the House would need to vote on the budget resolution a second time later this year to kick off the reconciliation process in earnest.

But Trump is still attempting to twist Thune’s arm. Earlier this week he urged supporters to call the senate majority leader to tell him to pass the GOP election overhaul bill known as the SAVE America Act, noting parts of it could be included under a third reconciliation bill.

Some GOP senators have pointed out, however, that the SAVE America Act would need to be ruled germane to the reconciliation process by the Senate parliamentarian, and there’s no guarantee the proposal would withstand her scrutiny. A few GOP senators have also previously voted against versions of the bill.

Senate Republicans have also tried to explain to the president for months that the bill doesn’t have the 60 votes needed to advance and that there isn’t enough support to blow up the filibuster to ram it through that way, either.

Trump’s allies expect the president to keep hammering Thune in any case — though how hard Trump pushes could depend on the outcome of the midterms.

Congress

Capitol agenda: A grueling summer campaign begins

Published

8 hours ago

July 24, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Republicans are bracing for a potentially grueling campaign trail run in August.

Members left for their districts Thursday for five weeks face-to-face with voters ahead of the looming midterms. Many acknowledge they’re going to need to ease Americans’ worries about what is beginning to look like an endless war yielding high gas prices, as well as other major affordability concerns, Mia, Meredith and Riley report.

“All of these issues will come up. I mean, Iran will absolutely come up,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise acknowledged Thursday. “Cost of living comes up. Safety and security, border security comes up. All of them come up, you know, and that’s why it’s important to remind people that we’re addressing those issues.”

Others were more blunt.

“We have a hell of a lot of work to do, that’s clear,” one House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said on their way out of the chamber.

Some are trying to paint a rosy picture to bring home of recent wins: Speaker Mike Johnson shepherded his conference this week through funding the government through Dec. 4, adopting a budget blueprint for a $95 billion party-line package and passing the annual defense policy bill.

“We’ve got a plan going into the fall,” Rep. Mike Flood said in an interview. “If you would have told me on Sunday we could get all that done with low drama, I would have never believed you.”

But each of those House bills now head to the Senate, where they are expected to hit several hurdles — assuming any of them can move at all.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman said he believed there was a “50/50” chance Senate Republicans will adopt the budget resolution in the coming weeks, “and I’m not optimistic.”

The GOP push to promote the benefits of their “One, Big Beautiful Bill” has fallen flat among Americans, too. That and Republicans’ plans to green light billions in funding to cover the military conflict in Iran has Democrats projecting confidence in their own midterm message.

“Donald Trump and Republicans have failed the American people, which is why they clearly are on the run and are on the verge of losing control of the House of Representatives,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday.

Jeffries is planning to launch a new affordability “effort” on Sunday while marking 100 days until the midterm elections. Some members are feeling buoyed by polling that shows mounting frustration with the Iran war and Democrats up on a generic ballot.

But the party is facing a rocky road in August in other ways.

A handful of Democratic incumbents are facing primary challenges that threaten to distract from the party’s sales pitch of unity. Democrat-on-Democrat infighting is taking place in contests involving Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida, Ed Case in Hawaii, Shri Thanedar in Michigan and John Larson in Connecticut.

“I have to confess, I’m a little more worried about some of the folks that have primaries,” Rep. Don Beyer said. “I just hate the idea of replacing people we know can win easily in November with people who could lose.”

What else we’re watching:

— SENATE GOP DEFENDS THUNE IN TRUMP TIFF: Trump’s patience with Senate Majority Leader John Thune is wearing thin. But other Senate Republicans say the president’s still not likely to get what he wants. Trump is again pressing Thune to muscle his top legislative priority — the SAVE America Act — through the Senate, and his frustration has grown heated in recent days. But Thune has repeatedly said he doesn’t have the votes to do so, even with House Republicans handing him a fresh opportunity by passing their party-line budget plan this week that includes portions of the elections bill. Many Republicans on Thursday came to their leader’s defense, acknowledging an unwinnable standoff between the president and their 53-seat majority.

— SENATE EYES RUSSIA-IRAN SANCTIONS PASSAGE: Thune is eyeing putting legislation on the Senate floor next week to impose sanctions on Russia and Iran. The core of the measure would be Russia-focused legislation unveiled last week by Sen. Darline Graham in honor of her late brother, with Iran provisions added at the request of Trump. “I’ve been having conversations with Democrats and folks on our side, and I think we’re I think we’re homing in on it,” Thune told reporters Thursday, adding he was pushing for an agreement to expedite the process.

Mia McCarthy, Meredith Lee Hill Riley Rogerson, Sophia Cai, Jordain Carney, Alex Gangitano and Megan Messerly contributed to this report.

Congress

House members stare down a grueling summer on the campaign trail

Published

11 hours ago

July 24, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Iran war’s increasing unpopularity, including inside the MAGA base, is weighing on House Republicans as they head back to their districts for a five-week recess to face voters ahead of the looming midterms.

They know they need to ease Americans’ worries about what many of them fear is beginning to look like an endless war yielding higher gas prices and other major affordability concerns.

It didn’t help that GOP lawmakers left Washington after four of their own broke ranks Thursday morning to help advance a Democrat-led war powers resolution rebuking President Donald Trump’s military operation in Iran.

The timing of the war powers vote right as members were leaving town — where among the four Republicans defecting was Rep. Tom Barrett, a vulnerable incumbent fighting to hold onto his competitive Michigan seat — had an unsettling effect among some House GOP lawmakers already spooked by poll numbers appearing to favor Democrats for a takeover in 2027.

“We have a hell of a lot of work to do, that’s clear,” one House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said as the chamber headed out this week.

Amid the political pressure around the war, National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson and other party leaders are trying to draw a contrast between the GOP and a Democratic Party facing down an rising insurgent left flank.

“We’ve passed some really good policies that are actually working. And so we’ve got a great story to tell to the voters,” the North Carolina Republican told reporters Thursday. “This election’s a choice between Donald Trump’s vision and Mamdani’s vision, and the voters are going to be with us.”

He was referencing Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist mayor of New York City who has become a GOP stand-in for the party following a string of progressive Democrats’ primary wins.

Some House Republicans tried to paint a rosy picture of their own achievements, having spent the past few days successfully pushing through major pieces of legislation that were seen as being in risk of failure at several points. Those anxieties were compounded by recent internal party meltdowns that forced Speaker Mike Johnson to lose control of the House floor for weeks.

Johnson’s wins this week include an annual defense policy bill, a measure to fund the government through Dec. 4 and a budget blueprint for a $95 billion party-line package. That package includes a massive cash infusion for the Iran war, plus farm aid and funding for the voter ID and citizenship components of the GOP election overhaul bill known as the SAVE America Act — Trump’s top legislative priority.

“If you would have told me on Sunday we could get all that done with low drama, I would have never believed you,” Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) said in an interview. “We’ve got a plan going into the fall. We are committed to making sure the government continues to operate.”

But each of those House bills now head to the Senate, where they are expected to hit several hurdles — assuming any of them can move at all. Senators’ own version of the National Defense Authorization Act has stalled, while Senate appropriators are hoping to negotiate their own stopgap funding plan.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune won’t commit to a timeline for moving the budget resolution, underscoring Thursday it does not have the votes at this point. It’s more likely than not that even if GOP leadership does decide to take up the fiscal blueprint, it won’t be before the Senate starts its own August recess, complicating the message for House Republicans during theirs.

Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) said he believed there was a “50/50” chance that Senate Republicans will adopt the budget resolution in the coming weeks, “and I’m not optimistic.”

House GOP leaders also keep pressing their members to highlight some of the benefits of Republicans’ “One, Big Beautiful Bill,” over the upcoming recess. But that message has largely fallen flat among Americans.

It has Democrats projecting confidence in their own midterm message and seizing on what they see as a series of political blunders by the GOP — including that the House Republican budget plan would greenlight billions in funding to cover the Trump administration’s exploits in Iran, which has driven up inflation.

Democrats are also feeling good about affordability and accountability-oriented legislative efforts they say are translating to promising polls and fundraising hauls. And while they have yet to fully outline how they would attempt to lower costs legislatively if they take the majority, Jeffries teased he will launch a new affordability “effort” on Sunday to mark 100 days until the midterm elections.

The party is also touting polling that shows mounting voter frustration with the Iran war — including among Republicans. A Wednesday Fox News poll shows voters saying Democrats can better handle income inequality by 22 percentage points, health care by 21 points, inflation by 10 points and immigration — Republicans’ top 2024 campaign issue — by one point.

On a generic ballot, Democrats are up by 11 points, according to an Emerson College poll.

“The cost of living goes up under Donald Trump and his war of choice,” the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Greg Meeks of New York, said in an interview. “And so that’s the messaging that we will continue to have to pour out to the American people, along with some of the crazy ethical problems that this administration has.”

Republicans have downplayed the polling so far. While Hudson acknowledged that midterm elections often benefit the party not in power in the White House, he believes this time around “that’s not the case,” pointing out that Republicans are trying to flip many House seats that Trump won.

“I’m polling in about 35 districts, and that’s going to decide the election,” Hudson said. “And in those polls, we’re leading in most, and we’re in the fight in the rest because we have better candidates. We actually have solutions to make people’s lives better, and thankfully we’ve got more resources, so we can tell that story.”

A handful of Democratic incumbents are also facing primary challenges that threaten to distract from the party’s salespitch of unity to contrast with their narrative about Republican disarray; Democrat-on-Democrat infighting is taking place in contests involving Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida, Ed Case in Hawaii, Shri Thanedar in Michigan and John Larson in Connecticut.

“I have to confess, I’m a little more worried about some of the folks that have primaries,” Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said. “I just hate the idea of replacing people we know can win easily in November with people who could lose.”

Democrats aren’t taking anything for granted: “There’s only two ways to run: scared or unopposed,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, a vulnerable Democrat from New York, said in an interview. “You just got to keep on fighting.”

Calen Razor contributed to this report.