Congress
Johnson-backed plan to combine Pentagon and election bills advances to floor
The House Rules Committee advanced a procedural measure aimed at breaking an intra-Republican deadlock Monday night. But GOP leaders are still facing a major battle Tuesday to regain control of the House floor.
The panel approved on party lines a measure to set up Republicans’ $1.1 trillion defense policy bill, a government funding bill and other GOP bills for floor debate. It would then combine the Pentagon bill, once passed, with the contentious elections overhaul known as the SAVE America Act and send it to the Senate as one piece of legislation.
That maneuver, telegraphed by Speaker Mike Johnson earlier Monday, is aimed at appeasing House GOP hard-liners who have blockaded the floor, demanding the Senate pass the elections bill that has languished there for months.
However, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, the Republican leading the blockade, said in an interview Monday before the Rules Committee acted that Johnson’s plan is not sufficient — raising the possibility she and allies could vote down the measure on the floor. Other House GOP hard-liners say there are other outstanding issues to battle over Tuesday.
Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Rules Democrat, called the merger move “a big waste of time.” The panel voted down a motion by McGovern to remove the provision to combine the two bills in a party-line vote.
The Senate is set to debate its own version of the defense bill next month, and it is likely that the elections overhaul will be removed in negotiations between the two chambers — as McGovern acknowledged Monday and House GOP leaders privately concede.
“The Senate will just strip the SAVE Act out,” he said at the meeting. “There is a zero percent chance SAVE ends up in the [Pentagon bill] because of this rule today.”
The defense bill faces a tight vote if Republicans can pass the procedural measure. Most Democrats are expected to oppose the measure over its massive price tag, which they contend is wasteful.
The panel is set up debate on 312 amendments to the bill. The slate includes GOP measures to codify a Trump executive order to block transgender people from serving in the military, prohibit coverage of gender-affirming care, block aid to arm Ukraine and strip Democratic-backed protections for collective bargaining for Pentagon civilian workers.
The committee also voted down Democratic proposals to slash $150 billion from the bill’s topline and limit the war against Iran.
Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
Speaker Mike Johnson said he has no plans to campaign with embattled Rep. Max Miller — or visit his home state of Ohio at all — before the midterms.
“I have no plans to go to Ohio between now and the election,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “I’ve said everything I can say about the situation. It’s up to the people in his district.”
Miller is running in what had been considered a safe red district before allegations of abuse from his ex-wife Emily Moreno, the daughter of GOP Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, exploded into public view in recent weeks. Ohio’s two GOP senators have called on Miller to resign.
Miller has denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to continue his reelection campaign. A spokesperson for Miller declined to comment.
Johnson said Monday that he supports Miller’s reelection bid and called him a “great member.” The House Ethics Committee is investigating the allegations, which include physical assaults on his wife and daughter.
“He’s running a good campaign,” Johnson said Wednesday. “He has a nasty divorce. He’s, of course, vehemently denied the claims made. And as I’ve said many times, we allow due process to play out.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is stepping into the growing debate over data centers, saying in a local news interview this week that the facilities should be “self-sufficient.”
“They ought to be able to take care of their own utilities, their own power, and that ought to be a given any place they go in the country,” Thune told a South Dakota TV station. “But they shouldn’t be going places where there isn’t support for them at the local level.”
The comments, which appear to be the first he’s made on the matter, come as the public pushback against data centers is growing amid concerns that the data center boom is driving up energy costs — fueling demands for a crackdown from across the political spectrum ahead of the midterms.
Some GOP senators have acknowledged in recent weeks that the issue is becoming a political liability for the party, while a handful of vulnerable House Republicans are pushing for action before the midterms.
Further complicating matters for party leaders, however, is that President Donald Trump lauded data centers in a Truth Social post, saying that “only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor.”
While the social media message has been causing heartburn for some inside the GOP, it’s also appearing to give little breathing room to House GOP leaders back in Washington after the summer recess, who are now under pressure from some members to deliver a legislative response before the November elections.
Many GOP lawmakers are rallying behind a bill that would require states to consider adopting a federal standard that would ensure data centers cover the costs of the grid upgrades needed to serve them.
The so-called Ratepayer Protection Act passed unanimously out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July, while Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who is in a competitive race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, has companion legislation around which he is trying to build support.
Aisha Wahab was sworn in to the House Wednesday as the 214th Democrat after winning a special election this month to replace California Rep. Eric Swalwell. With Wahab sworn in, Speaker Mike Johnson will be able to lose only one Republican on party-line votes.
The House is now back to 433 members. Vacancies created by the resignations earlier this year of Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) and Anthony Gonzales (R-Texas) not expected to filled before the end of the Congress.
- Thune: Data centers should be ‘self-sufficient’
- Mike Johnson says he has ‘no plans’ to campaign with Max Miller
- Introducing Rep. Aisha Wahab
- Trump invites battleground Republicans to Rose Garden dinner
- Capitol agenda: GOP does Dallas? Not so much
- Republicans struggle for footing on data center response ahead of midterms
- Susan Collins on Trump, tariffs and her fight for Maine
- Hospitals say coming Trump administration rules are worse than GOP’s Medicaid cuts
- Congress warms to Trump’s Hollywood tax credit effort
- Republicans aren’t exactly flocking to Trump’s midterm convention
-
Politics2 years agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
Politics2 years agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics2 years agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
The Dictatorship12 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words