Congress
Push for Labor nominee is latest threat to House GOP majority
Some Republicans are privately lobbying to make a first-term House Republican the next Labor secretary — a move that would further imperil the party’s tiny congressional majority should President Donald Trump follow through.
Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia is the subject of the behind-the-scenes effort being waged by some Trump administration officials, fellow GOP lawmakers, lobbyists and industry officials, according to nearly 20 people with knowledge of the effort.
Moore has also privately expressed interest in the job during recent conversations with fellow Republicans, according to two of the people, who were granted anonymity to disclose private conversations.
Moore declined to comment. Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said “when there is an announcement on a permanent nomination, it will be made by the President directly.”
Some Republicans expressed doubt that Trump would nominate Moore, given what it would mean for the GOP’s already tenuous grip on the House.
With the expected swearing-in this week of Rep.-elect James Gallagher (R-Calif.), Republicans can lose up to three votes on party-line measures where all members are voting. But Rep. Tom Kean (R-N.J.) has been absent for months with no firm timeline to return, and Democrats could add two more votes in the coming months when voters in California and Georgia fill vacancies.
As a former welder and one of a handful of elected Republicans with close ties to organized labor, Moore has fans in the GOP both on and off Capitol Hill. Some have suggested Trump could aim to have him start later in the year, when his absence would not have as much impact in the House.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), who chairs House Republicans’ labor caucus, said Moore would be a strong pick.
“I’ve seen first-hand his commitment to working Americans,” LaLota said. “He understands the struggles of blue-collar families, and his record makes clear that he would be an outstanding Secretary of Labor.”
The lobbying effort around Moore comes after the April resignation of Trump’s first Labor secretary, Lori Chavez DeRemer. She, too, was tapped after serving in the House and developing a reputation as a union-friendly Republican before a high-profile series of misconduct allegations against her and her top staffers derailed her tenure.
Moore is a member of a storied West Virginia political family that includes GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, his aunt. Despite serving only 18 months, he is viewed as a close White House ally — for instance, traveling to an El Salvador prison last year to vouch for a Trump plan to send migrants deported from the U.S. there.
But the idea that Moore could get the Labor job is getting sharp pushback from some White House officials who say Trump supports acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, and many Trump officials want to see Sonderling stay in the role.
“Keith Sonderling is doing a great job serving as the acting Labor Secretary,” Rogers said.
In his short time in office, Moore has helped spearhead bipartisan workers-rights legislation, co introducing a bill with Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), as well as Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), related to employee labor rights. And while Moore sits at the House GOP leadership table as a member of the Elected Leadership Committee, he has clashed with top Republicans on labor and union issues.
In one instance, he joined with like-minded Republicans to derail a bill that would allow employers to exclude some voluntary training or certification hours from overtime calculations. “I was a welder. It’s what I used to do for a living. So I know these issues pretty well. I’ve done plenty of trainings and certifications and everything else in my life,” Moore said at the time. “I don’t like the idea … where they’re being forced, coerced towards voluntary training making no hourly rate.”
“We need to be standing up for the American worker, not making it more difficult for them,” he added.
Moore’s previous work with Democrats, as well as his own personal connection to a sitting senator, could help him get through the confirmation process. Chavez-DeRemer was confirmed last year with 67 votes, including help from more than a dozen Democrats.
But any Labor nominee will need to get through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who recently lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger and has since shown a willingness to block some presidential priorities.
“I’m going to continue to do what is best for my state and best for my country and try and make every decision with that consideration,” he said after the election when asked about nominees passing through the committee.
Myah Ward contributed to this report.
The House Oversight Committee requested that Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who once represented Jeffery Epstein, testify as part of its investigation into the federal government’s handling of the Epstein files.
The interview is tentatively slated for 10 a.m. on July 9, with a video and transcript of the testimony being released “as expeditiously as practical,” Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote in a letter to Dershowitz on Friday.
“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, documents obtained by the Committee, and your former role as Mr. Epstein’s attorney, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” Comer wrote.
Comer told reporters on Wednesday that he wanted to hear from Dershowitz, who helped Epstein secure a controversial plea deal in his 2008 sex abuse case.
“I’m looking forward to testifying,” Dershowitz wrote in a text message to Blue Light News on Friday, adding that he is “trying to adjust my schedule” for July 9.
Sen. John Cornyn isn’t a card-carrying member of the Senate GOP’s growing YOLO caucus. But with less than seven months left in office after losing his primary, the Texas Republican appears to be feeling newly free to speak his mind.
The latest clap-back came Thursday night and the early hours of Friday morning, when Cornyn called a conservative influencer a “grifter” and told Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on social media to stop publicly blaming fellow Republicans — including Senate Majority Leader John Thune — for the fact that the GOP elections bill doesn’t have support to pass inside the party.
“You don’t have the votes” for the SAVE America Act, Cornyn posted on X. “@LeaderJohnThune can’t change that. It is math.”
He was directing his comments at Lee, who had just penned a post telling Thune, “let’s do this!”
Cornyn continued, “Try focusing on Democrats instead of Republicans. Republican on Republican attacks are hurting our chances to win the majority in November.”
Lee responded to ask, “on what planet is this an attack on Republicans?” and appeared to suggest a staffer was tweeting on Cornyn’s behalf: “Once my friend John Cornyn realizes that you’re saying this in his name—whoever you are—I don’t think he’ll be happy with you.”
Cornyn, however, is known for posting himself on his social media accounts in a chamber where many Senate accounts are run solely by staff. And he’s been making it clear all week that he will push back on Trump and his party when he thinks it’s needed.
In multiple conversations with reporters in the Capitol, Cornyn said that Republicans need to “stop the circular firing squad.” And he added that he won’t intentionally be “a thorn in [Trump’s] side,” but he’s also “not going to go out of my way to try to appease him.”
“I want him to succeed, I want the Republican Party to succeed, I want the country to succeed,” Cornyn said this week. “But on a case-by-case basis, when I think there’s been overreach or just a bad idea, I’m not going to hesitate to weigh in.”
The four-term senator’s comments come after he lost his primary last month to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Trump endorsed in the final days of the runoff.
Cornyn said in an interview with The New York Times that he was not a “wounded bear” but that he believed Trump’s insistence on “slavish adherence” was going to backfire for Republicans in the midterms and result in “the most miserable two years of his life” if Democrats flip the House or Senate.
“I think it is going to be a pretty bumpy ride for the next seven months,” Cornyn said.
Chuck Schumer wants Congress to pass AI legislation. But he’s casting doubt on it happening this year.
“In this Congress, it’s hard,” the Senate minority leader said in an interview Thursday.
Schumer’s reality check isn’t a complete door-slam. But it underscores the steep climb lawmakers face to bridge a slew of intra-party and inter-chamber divides about what Washington’s approach should be toward the emerging opportunities and risks from the rapidly developing technology.
The problems are multi-pronged.
The White House, whose posture toward AI has shifted dramatically in recent weeks, is angling to enact legislation that would preempt state laws in favor of a national standard. Most recently, administration officials have been exploring a plan to attach preemption legislation to bills designed to shore up kids’ safety online. But there are issues — House Republicans aren’t in love with the Senate GOP’s kid safety bills and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has warned that many senators have concerns “about not trampling states’ rights in the process.”
Democrats aren’t unified on what to do next, with the public broadly skeptical about AI.
Some House and Senate Democrats are leery of state preemption and want to wait until next year to tackle AI, when they might be in power. Opposition from key Democrats is a major factor derailing an attempt by Reps. Lori Trahan and Jay Obernolte to strike a deal on legislation that would set nationwide safety and transparency rules while restricting state action. And Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed a moratorium on AI data centers pending stricter government oversight.
Schumer is striking a balanced tone on how to proceed, arguing that there are “tremendous benefits” from AI but that “we also have to have guardrails.”
“We should get something done on AI, and it’s … got to be balanced — keep innovation strong, but have guardrails to prevent the dangers,” he said. “That’s a hard needle to thread, but I would very much like to see that get done the sooner the better.”
What else we’re watching:
— FISA LAPSE, CLAYTON NOMINATION: Thune is vowing to move “fairly quickly” to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, with the FISA Section 702 spy authority set to lapse at midnight thanks to a stalemate between Democrats and the White House over the position.
— GOP ADVANCES BIG DEFENSE BOOST — Republicans have taken the first steps toward granting President Donald Trump’s request for the largest budget ever for the Pentagon. Senate Armed Services members on Thursday approved a draft of their annual defense authorization bill outlining priorities for $1.14 trillion in defense spending next year. The House Appropriations defense subcommittee advanced $1.1 trillion in fiscal 2027 funding for the Defense Department in a closed-door markup.
Calen Razor and Connor O’Brien contributed reporting.
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