Congress

Graham’s death leaves Senate agenda in limbo

Published

3 months ago

July 12, 2026

Lindsey Graham’s death is poised to upend the Senate, where the GOP majority was already tight and the four-term South Carolina Republican loomed large in several immediate policy fights ahead of the midterms — putting the fate of multiple legislative priorities into question.

Graham — who died of a “brief a sudden illness” Saturday, according to his office — chaired the Budget Committee, which has been facing pressure from President Donald Trump to advance a new party-line spending package including a major boost in defense funding. He was also a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, which has been working to land a deal to avert a government shutdown at the end of September.

Graham was a member of the Judiciary Committee, which is set this week to hold confirmation hearings for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to lead the Justice Department permanently. GOP leaders had been counting on Graham to help rally support for the nominee in committee and on the floor with a handful of fellow Republicans at risk of withholding their votes.

And he was leading efforts to slap sanctions on Russia for its ongoing aggression against Ukraine — a crusade that may now have lost a second Republican champion on Capitol Hill after the hospitalization of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Senate Republican leaders will need to immediately begin to account for Graham’s absence as they plot out their next three weeks in Washington before leaving for summer recess — and as they seek to deliver on campaign promises as the November elections loom.

“He was a trusted adviser and colleague to me and many others, and numerous presidents and heads of state have relied on his counsel,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in a statement Sunday morning. “His influence on the federal judiciary, our national defense, and his beloved South Carolina will be felt for generations.”

Graham’s death brings Senate Republicans’ already narrow majority to 52-47 — and functionally even narrower as McConnell continues to be missing for undisclosed medical reasons. Under South Carolina law, the Republican governor can appoint a temporary successor, though that person would not necessarily inherit his same committee assignments nor share Graham’s vast expertise in defense, foreign affairs and judicial matters.

Graham chaired the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing funding for the State Department, and his successor in that role will be facing a tight timeline ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to avert a funding lapse — and fresh pressures to keep cash flowing to key diplomatic activities amid the ongoing war against Iran.

Nearly all Senate appropriators hold a subcommittee gavel, so decisions about who will take over from Graham will be dependent on whether the most senior members want to shuffle among themselves or let a rank-and-file Appropriations Republican step up into a leadership role.

Graham and McConnell have together led a consistent drumbeat within a changing Republican party for continued engagement by the U.S. on the international stage and with key alliances — along with advocacy for more defense spending. Graham’s death will strike a blow to the “peace through strength” part of the GOP as President Donald Trump shows little interest in traditional alliances and continues his criticism of NATO. Graham was a key voice against a growing isolationist stance within his party and cheerled the war against Iran.

The Senate is scheduled to take up the annual defense authorization measure this week, a major leadership goal of the July legislative sprint ahead of the upcoming extended recess and around which Graham was set to play a key role during floor debate.

“There are no words to describe his impact on the foreign and domestic policy of the United States,” Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said on social media Sunday, adding that “he stood solidly for freedom and strength and he fought for liberty across the globe.”

The most immediate source of anxiety for leadership could be what effect Graham’s absence could have for Blanche, who is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee with hopes of being confirmed by the first week of August.

The nominee has faced blowback from members of both parties over Blanche’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and, most recently, his oscillation over the fate of a $180 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” critics feared would be used to pay damages to President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Outgoing Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), who sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, haven’t committed to voting for him. Another retiring Senate Republican, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and GOP moderate Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are also among those who would waver on Blanche if and when his nomination comes to the floor. Graham was a reliable “yes.”

GOP leaders will also need to install a new chair of the Budget Committee as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Congress to move another party-line package with a $350 billion infusion for the military, along with other conservative priorities.

Graham was set to take the lead on a Senate effort, recently meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to discuss using the filibuster-skirting reconciliation bill to bolster the Pentagon amid the ongoing conflict with Iran. He was a major cheerleader for both efforts as a staunch Trump ally and an avowed defense hawk, and his death is a setback for the broader reconciliation push that was already facing steep odds given a truncated window for action and lack of agreement about what provisions should go into the legislation.

The next chair of the Senate Budget Committee will be selected largely by seniority, though the next two Republicans in line after Graham — Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mike Crapo of Idaho — already chair the Judiciary and Finance panels, respectively. The next two Republicans in line after that are Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who currently chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Roger Marshall of Kansas.

Efforts to impose economic sanctions on Russia are also now up in the air following Graham’s death. He had just returned to his Washington residence from Ukraine, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and announced there was an agreement with the White House for the Senate to finally move forward on a package allowing Trump to sanction countries that buy Russian oil and gas.

There was hope heading into the weekend that the deal, which would punish buyers of Russian oil, would yield fresh pressure on Moscow. Graham’s allies in the push — including Wicker and Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — could rally to pass the package in Graham’s memory.

But the effort also may fall into limbo with its chief cheerleader on Capitol Hill gone and close second, McConnell, also absent.

Congress

Capitol agenda: AI experts to school Congress wanted

Published

50 minutes ago

October 19, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Artificial intelligence is challenging some lawmakers’ confidence that they have the capacity to regulate it.

The slow pace of Congress and a challenging political environment are already working against lawmakers under pressure to address AI threats. There’s also a significant gap in tech policy expertise.

“We need to dramatically increase the base knowledge of Congress if we’re going to legislate meaningfully,” Rep. Sam Liccardo said in a recent interview.

One big concern is at the staffing level: getting people with a deep understanding of the technology around rank-and-file members. Aides who specialize in tech policy often get lured to private companies with huge salaries that can be hard to resist.

Some lawmakers, like Rep. Mark Takano, are advocating for an in-house hub — something like the long-defunct Office of Technology Assessment, which helped Congress understand emerging technology and its social and policy implications from 1972 until it was scrapped in 1995. A Takano aide said he’ll introduce a bipartisan bill to restore such an office in the coming weeks.

Members have also been leaning on fellows from TechCongress — a nonprofit founded by former congressional aide Travis Moore that places technology experts in member and committee offices.

Moore said in an interview that there are plenty of people who want to work on Capitol Hill, but it’s a matter of “Congress’s will and capacity to absorb that talent.”

Not everybody buys into the theory that staffing will solve the problem. Some conservatives, in particular, have seized on the lack of member expertise to argue for a hands-off regulatory approach.

“We don’t understand it well enough,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who has repeatedly brought in technology experts through the TechCongress fellowship, told reporters this month. “We don’t have the expertise to do it.”

“Do you really trust the members of Congress, who barely understand AI, to write the regulations around something?” added Rep. Eric Burlison in an interview last month.

There are a few members who consider themselves fluent in AI policy, including several who have joined working groups on it. They’ve taken educating their colleagues into their own hands but have not always seen great enthusiasm.

Liccardo, for example, recounted how he has brought in experts to brief lawmakers — including huge AI industry figures like Sam Altman of OpenAI and Dario Amodei of Anthropic— only to struggle to convince members to attend.

“We have had challenges in the past trying to get folks’ attention to the issues,” he said.

What else we’re watching:

— WRIGHT: LAWMAKERS ARE ‘WRONG’ ON RUSSIA: Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday dismissed bipartisan criticism when asked about lawmakers warning that President Donald Trump’s diesel deal would help finance Russia. “In fact, they are all wrong. They don’t understand what President Trump’s doing,” Wright said on ABC News. Wright also defended Trump’s decision Friday exempting Russia from key sanctions outlined in the late Sen. Lindsey Graham sanctions law, which was enacted just last month and set to take effect Sunday. The moves have drawn bipartisan outcry.

— PILOT BILLS GET COMEDIAN’S HELP — Lawmakers are targeting year-end enactment of a pair of bipartisan bills aimed at helping pilots deal with mental health issues and hazy medication regulations, thanks in part to a comedian with an HBO show. Lawmakers and others credit Nathan Fielder, star of the docu-comedy “The Rehearsal” for raising awareness on the stresses pilots face in the hit show last year. They say Fielder wasn’t actively involved in lobbying despite pleas from some for help. “Frankly, I’m glad he elevated the story,” Rep. Sean Casten, one of the lawmakers leading the mental health legislation, told Safa. After passing the Senate late last month, the two bills are awaiting House action.

Katherine Tully-McManus, Jalen Beckford and Safa Wahidi contributed to this report.

Congress

Wanted: Tech experts to help Congress regulate AI

Published

4 hours ago

October 19, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Lawmakers are under pressure to pass legislation to address the threats from advanced artificial intelligence, but many have serious doubts they have the capacity to regulate the technology’s explosive growth.

Few are expecting lawmakers themselves — some of whom still proudly use flip phones — to become AI experts overnight. But while even congressional Luddites acknowledge there is urgency for Capitol Hill to quickly expand its expertise in tech policy to help with legislating, regulating and conducting effective oversight, there’s no consensus yet on how to achieve it.

“We need to dramatically increase the base knowledge of Congress if we’re going to legislate meaningfully,” Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) said in a recent interview.

Congress already has a long track record of lagging behind as technological innovations transform the world beyond Washington: It has adopted a largely hands-off approach to regulating the Internet as it integrated into everyday life in the past 40 years, relying instead on existing laws that govern other industries and taking smaller piecemeal bites.

The challenging political environment won’t help speed things along now: Democrats are split over whether the answer is to put guardrails on the AI industry or ban “superintelligence” entirely, while many Republicans — including President Donald Trump — warn that any regulation would stifle innovation and cede ground to China.

Some members consider themselves fluent in AI policy, including several who have joined working groups on AI policy. Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) have pursued masters degrees in AI and machine learning, in addition to many others who are self-taught.

The “overwhelming number” of lawmakers have some idea of what AI is and what it is capable of, Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.), co-chair of a House Democratic commission on AI policy, said in a recent interview. But, she added, “None of us can say that we understand where it’s going.”

The larger concern is at the staff level — putting people with real expertise around the rank-and-file members who don’t have the bandwidth or interest in educating themselves on the frontier of the industry. Aides who do specialize in tech policy often get lured to the industry with huge salaries that can be hard to resist.

That’s where Travis Moore, a former congressional staffer, has spent more than a decade trying to help.

In 2015, Moore left his post as legislative director for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and founded TechCongress, a nonprofit that places technology experts in member and committee offices. The hope is that those offices will be convinced to hire those fellows full-time — or at least recognize the need to secure in-house tech policy expertise.

“You should have a technologist at the table to at least mitigate the unknown unknowns,” Moore said, regardless of what members themselves know about technology.

As AI has boomed, so has demand for TechCongress’ fellows: In the last two years, Moore has fielded more than 1,200 applications for about 36 fellowship slots through the program, which does not accept funding from corporations or tech companies.

Of nearly 130 fellows selected through the program since its founding, Moore said 32 were later hired full-time. Two-thirds of all the fellows have pursued careers in public service, either on Capitol Hill or other government roles.

Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), one of the leaders on AI policy on Capitol Hill, is among the offices that currently employs a TechCongress fellow. The House Judiciary Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) also host fellows.

Moore says his initiative has shown there are plenty of people who want to work on Capitol Hill to help inform some of the most pressing issues of the moment — even when more lucrative salaries in the private sector beckon.

“The constraint is not talent supply,” Moore said in an interview. Rather, he said, it’s a matter of “Congress’s will and capacity to absorb that talent.”

Some on Capitol Hill are advocating for an in-house hub — something like the long-defunct Office of Technology Assessment, which helped Congress understand emerging technology and its social and policy implications from 1972 until it was scrapped in 1995.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) has long championed efforts to revive the OTA for years and expects to reintroduce his legislation restoring the office in the coming weeks with bipartisan backing, spokesperson Austin Clark said.

Not everybody buys into the theory that staffing will solve the problem. Some conservatives, in particular, have seized on the lack of member expertise to argue for a hands-off approach to regulation.

“We don’t understand it well enough,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who has repeatedly brought in technology experts through the TechCongress fellowship, told reporters this month. “You can’t address it based on what policymakers know about it on a one-size-fits-all universal basis. … We don’t have the expertise to do it.”

“Do you really trust the members of Congress, who barely understand AI, to write the regulations around something?” added Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) in an interview last month.

Others don’t see a hopeless cause, but a convenient excuse.

“I understand it’s hard, but lots of things we do here are hard,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in an interview, noting that lawmakers have had to bone up quickly on everything from nuclear energy policy to complex weapons systems and advances in health care, like biologic drugs.

“I just think the industry wants us to believe that there’s seven people who understand this, and that’s just not true,” Murphy said, accusing some of his colleagues of “just throwing shit up against the wall to try to figure out how to justify doing nothing.”

A few members on both sides of the aisle have taken educating their colleagues into their own hands. Obernotle says he helped tutor more than two dozen House members through the bipartisan AI working group he chaired in the previous Congress.

Liccardo, who represents parts of Silicon Valley, recounted how he has brought in experts to brief lawmakers — including huge AI industry figures like Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Jensen Huang of Nvidia — only to struggle to convince members to attend.

“We have had challenges in the past trying to get folks’ attention to the issues,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do, I’ll just say, to get everybody up to speed.”

Riley Rogerson, Jordain Carney and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.

Congress

Retiring GOP congressmember will ‘absolutely not’ vote for successor in at-risk seat

Published

2 days ago

October 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Retiring Nevada Republican Rep. Mark Amodei said he won’t vote for the Trump-endorsed GOP candidate vying to replace him amid a string of stolen valor and other accusations — and warned that the once-safe Republican seat President Donald Trump won by 14 points is at risk of flipping blue on Election Day.

Amodei said in an interview Saturday he would “absolutely not” vote for businessperson David Flippo in Nevada’s 2nd District. “I think the seat’s at risk,” he added, citing a string of stolen valor and financial allegations against Flippo.

“You say, well, the president endorsed him,” Amodei added. “It’s like, well whoever was advising the president on, ‘Hey, this would be a good place for you to go ahead and weigh in,’ gave him awful advice. The vetting process — quote unquote — must have been nearly non-existent.”

Amodei specifically cited a series of allegations against Flippo as disqualifying, for reportedly lying about his military service and also failing to file financial disclosures on time.

“It’s just one thing after another. The stolen valor accusations — all that. But you’re just sitting here going, ‘What the heck?’” Amodei said. Flippo has said apparent exaggerations about his military service on campaign materials were mistakes by his staff and others. Still, GOP officials have been weighing whether Trump should campaign in the region to help boost Flippo before Election Day, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The district has never been represented by a Democrat.

Amodei said he plans to vote early in the coming days and “is looking seriously” at casting his ballot for the independent candidate.

Amid the deteriorating landscape, national Republicans are increasingly wary about Republicans like Flippo holding onto seats in once-safe red districts. Trump won the Northern Nevada seat that encompasses Reno and nearby rural counties by double digits in 2024 and Amodei has held it for 15 years.

On paper, Democrats should have no business playing there. And, national Republicans are still bullish on their chances of holding onto the seat, arguing it’s safer than other red districts they’re more worried about. But Republicans have watched Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson, a former Nevada Assembly majority leader, make the race much tighter than comfortable.

Limited general election polls have Flippo either up or trailing by several points. The Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC just dropped its first spending into the district in recent days, looking to boost Flippo who has self-funded a large part of his campaign.

Nevada Republicans — once bullish about flipping the Las Vegas-area 1st and 3rd Districts — are now paying increasing attention to Amodei’s Northern Nevada district. The economic headwinds that have hit farm states across the country have slammed Nevada’s so-called cattle counties, and demographic change in Reno has favored Democrats in recent years.

Amodei, who has refused to endorse Flippo, views him as entirely the wrong candidate for the district. Flippo is “somebody who air drops into the district,” Amodei said, “announces their intent, pulls out of another district in Las Vegas, within hours of when I said, ‘Hey, I think the time is right for me to retire.’” Amodei also questioned Flippo’s delays in filing his financial disclosures.

“It’s the cynical attitude towards the process to me that has just been staggering in terms of the end justifies the means,” Amodei added.

Amodei said he believes Republicans still have a shot at holding onto their House majority, and he’s told Speaker Mike Johnson he “sincerely” wants the Louisiana Republican to stay on as speaker next Congress.

But Amodei warned the larger landscape for House Republicans has turned darker, compared to a year ago when Republicans “were feeling pretty good, and the winds were at our back.”

“It’s gone,” he said, adding “the mood of the country right now does not feel warm.”

“There’s absolutely no, ‘Yeah, I’d rather be us than them,’” Amodei said. “It’s like everybody better button up their chin strap and be ready to play through the fourth quarter.”

Samuel Benson contributed to this report.