Congress
House GOP rule proposals spotlight battle between conservatives and leadership allies
House Republicans are primed for a nasty fight over their internal rules this week.
A review of the 20 amendments submitted to the current rules, first reported by Blue Light News, indicate an ongoing clash between conservatives, who are looking to strip more power from leadership, and other members who want to see disruptive GOP lawmakers punished.
The amendments do not include proposed changes to the rules governing how to oust a speaker, known as a motion to vacate, though that doesn’t mean that fight is over. Currently, one member can trigger a vote to boot a speaker, and leadership and many House Republicans want to raise that threshold. Debate over that rule will likely reignite before the full House speakership vote on Jan. 3, when the party is slated to deliberate broader House rules after selecting a speaker.
And though the motion to vacate rules aren’t up for a vote just yet, several proposed amendments are directly related to it. Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) and Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) sought to prevent another speaker ouster and subsequent gavel fight showdown with their amendments.
Huizenga proposed kicking members off committees for at least 90 days if they oppose a speaker on the House floor who received a two-thirds majority nomination vote from the conference. And Van Orden similarly pushed for members to lose their committee assignments if a group of members move to vacate the speaker against the wishes of the majority of their party — as was the case for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.
Additionally, Huizenga and Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) submitted amendments that would punish lawmakers who block GOP-backed legislation from a floor passage vote, known as voting against the rule. Huizenga’s amendment floated an unspecified “penalty,” while LaLota’s would kick members who opposed rule votes off their committees.
From the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus side, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) sought to clarify the authority of a Speaker Pro Tempore, the person who leads the House temporarily in the event of another speaker vacancy. His amendment, which says the position can only aid in the election of a new speaker, aims to settle discussions over what powers Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) had when he filled the role following the termination of McCarthy’s speakership.
Others like Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Andy Harris (R-Md.), the current chair of the House Freedom Caucus, aimed to curb the power of the GOP steering committee, a leadership-aligned panel that largely decides who will serve as panel chairs and membership.
Harris proposed other amendments aimed at limiting how long Republicans could serve in certain leadership positions. One says a member who is a committee head of one panel cannot immediately become chair or ranking member of another committee if they’ve already hit the term limit of three consecutive terms. Another seeks to limit any members from serving on the Steering Committee for more than three consecutive terms. A third would block members from serving on both a committee and on the Steering panel at the same time, which several have in the past.
Other notable amendment proposals:
- Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) is proposing a rule that would create a new GOP leadership position known as the chair of the debt commission.
- Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) wants to block Republicans from voting on their GOP leadership lineup before setting their internal rules. (In other words, allowing lawmakers to decide whether they like the rules package before they give their blessing to a speaker nominee.)
- Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) is trying to create more time for members to speak at the microphones during private GOP conference meetings, putting forward an amendment that would curb how much time GOP leadership spends updating its members. Roy also floated a new rule that would allow members to call for votes in a conference meeting to determine if a bill had the support of the majority of Republicans.
- Reps. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) and Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) put forward a proposal that would limit the price tag of a bill that can pass under suspension — a procedural tool GOP leadership had used to bypass hardliners when they opposed spending bills — at $100 million. For Palmer, the exception was if the bill included offsets.
House Republicans will meet Thursday morning for a forum to discuss rule amendments, and will convene again that afternoon to vote on their conference rules.
Adam Hamilton raised $10.6 million in the third quarter of 2026 across his Senate campaign and his joint fundraising committees, his campaign tells Blue Light News, a significant haul for the Kansas Democrat.
The fundraising total illustrates Democrats’ newfound bullishness about flipping a Senate seat in the deep-red state for the first time since 1932.
“This grassroots support sends a clear message: with three weeks until Election Day, Adam Hamilton is building the momentum to win,” said Hamilton campaign spokesperson Tyson Brody.
Hamilton’s third-quarter figure is nearly triple his $3.66 million second-quarter total. His campaign did not provide a current cash-on-hand total.
National Democrats began pumping money into Kansas in recent days, a sign of their growing hopes that Hamilton could win. Last week, Senate Majority PAC — Senate Democrats’ top super PAC — reserved $5 million in television ads backing Hamilton. American Bridge PAC and Lower Costs Now, a new group affiliated with former Vice President Kamala Harris’ super PAC, have spent in Kansas in recent weeks.
Republicans have also flocked to Kansas to prop up Marshall: Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate GOP’s top PAC, has spent or reserved nearly $11 million backing Marshall in the past week, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
“It took us five months to raise $15 million. [Marshall] got it in a day,” Hamilton said at a campaign event in Lawrence, Kansas on Monday. “So please help us.”
Marshall’s campaign has yet to release his third-quarter fundraising totals. As of mid-July, Marshall had over $5 million in the bank to $1.73 million for Hamilton.
A bipartisan Senate duo is urging Trump national security officials to “bring its full capacities to bear” to stave off threats posed by artificial intelligence — sooner rather than later.
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, and Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who serves on the Senate Armed Services cybersecurity subcommittee, are calling for a full government response to a growing number of cybersecurity breaches.
“Recent AI security incidents should serve as a warning,” the senators wrote in a Tuesday letter to Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and White House Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. “Advanced AI agents have escaped testing environments, bypassed safeguards, and gained unauthorized access to real-world systems owned by government agencies and private organizations.”
Spokespeople for Clayton and Kratsios did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Their letter comes as lawmakers struggle to hash out what legislation on AI safety, if any, might look like. Members are currently in recess ahead of the November elections and there’s little hope progress can be made by the year’s end.
But those lawmakers who have been engaged on the topic for years now have mapped out administrative actions the Trump administration could move on now, without waiting on Congress.
The Cantwell and Rounds priorities include: strengthening federal AI safety and security standards at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST; expanding independent testing capabilities at the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence, Department of Energy and the national labs; and working with the tech industry to develop and deploy defensive AI tools.
Specifically, the senators wrote, new NIST standards should address the risks posed by advanced AI capabilities, including the “potential misuse by malicious actors” to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks, automate attacks at scale and agents that threaten external systems and critical infrastructure.
They also said the federal government capacity should be complemented by universities and other research organizations, as well as by private sector, third-party evaluators.
Finally, they point to ways the government could use existing programs at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to work with AI labs to help detect threats and reinforce vulnerable systems.
A bipartisan group of senators urged President Donald Trump to rescind his recent diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, amid bubbling anger on Capitol Hill about Trump’s announcement.
In a letter sent to the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the senators warned that the president’s deal with Russia will not “achieve just ends” or benefit Americans.
“Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin’s murderous, illegal war,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.”
On Sunday, a smaller group of senators called on the president to “immediately reverse course” on the plan in a statement. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — who signed on to both — said Sunday there may be “a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump announced in a social media post on Friday that Russia would “immediately supply” diesel fuel to global markets — including potentially the U.S. — to help relieve high prices driven, in part, by the ongoing war with Iran. Though Trump has repeatedly defended the U.S.’s actions against Iran, on Saturday he demanded an end to Ukrainian drone strikes that have crippled Russian oil refineries that he argues have caused the record-high oil prices.
The senators on Tuesday argued that the deal with Russia will have a “negligible impact” on fuel prices while providing Putin with “more fuel to finance his war machine” as Russia continues its “brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians.”
The deal with Russia is a sharp pivot from a sweeping sanctions package signed into law last month. That legislation — championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — was meant to deplete Moscow’s resources by targeting Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of oil tankers. It drew widespread bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.
Senators on Tuesday referenced the package as they condemned Putin as a “tyrant.”
“For decades, America has stood as the bastion of freedom against tyranny, and American presidents have embodied our nation’s resistance to tyrants. Putin is a tyrant,” the letter reads. “Withdraw from this agreement, rescind General License No. 135, and execute the authorities provided under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. Maintain our legacy – and the duty America holds – as leader of the free world.”
In addition to Blumenthal and Tillis, Tuesday’s letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Jack Reed (R.I.), and Chris Coons (Del.) and Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine), Alan Armstrong (Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and John Cornyn (Texas).
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