Congress

Crypto regulatory text expected to be released Thursday does not have Senate Democrat support

Published

1 day ago

July 16, 2026

Senators are planning to release the updated text of a cryptocurrency regulatory bill shortly after a meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) told reporters.

Democratic senators are not expected to attend the meeting. Several Democrats said they wouldn’t support the version of the bill that could be released Thursday, suggesting it faces steep odds for passage.

Negotiations on the Clarity Act have gone back and forth for the better part of the past year. A major unresolved issue involves an ethics provision seeking to address Trump’s business ties to the crypto industry. The measure is a requirement for Senate Democrats, whose support is necessary to pass the bill through the chamber.

“We’ll do that right after the meeting,” Moreno said. “You guys have a lot of reading to do.”

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who is also expected to attend the meeting, said in an interview Thursday she “certainly hopes” draft text is released after speaking with the president but didn’t confirm.

Moreno pointed to the time spent meeting with Democrats on the bill over the past year, and said “it’s time for a vote now, but the president asked for a briefing.”

The Ohio Republican said one of his main goals of the meeting with Trump is to get a vote on the bill before August recess.

Several Democrats said they wouldn’t support the version of the bill set for release Thursday because it lacks strong ethics provisions.

“They’re taking a version of the text to the president with their ethics provisions, not with anything that we agree to as Democrats,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a key negotiator of the legislation, said in an interview Thursday. “At the end of the day, we don’t have strong ethics. I don’t care what the president says. You’re not going to have the Democratic votes.”

Gallego said the version of ethics language he’s seen so far is “very weak” and gives “a lot of latitude to the president to continue doing his grift, and also it’s not very consumer protection friendly.”

Moreno has been adamant that the crypto bill “has the strongest ethics provision of any piece of legislation ever passed by any Congress.”

A Democratic Senate aide granted anonymity to discuss the unreleased draft said “the Republican plan being presented to the president is weaker than what Democrats will accept” and that “Democrats have not seen nor agreed to what is being presented to the White House.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who has been working on the CFTC portion of the bill, said in an interview he’s still in active negotiations on the bill, which aren’t expected to be finished Thursday.

“I hope they’re not going to drop something before we finish our negotiation,” Booker said. “The only way to get this done is a bipartisan pathway.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego’s party affiliation.

Congress

AIPAC drops online donations to Dems who backed Israel aid cut

Published

7 minutes ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The campaign finance arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is curtailing online contributions to House Democrats who voted to cut Israel aid this week, in the latest rift between the party and the influential advocacy group.

As of Friday afternoon, an online portal for AIPAC’s political action committee removed donation buttons for more than a dozen House Democrats from a page that lists incumbents who “stand with Israel.”

The members now listed without donation buttons include Reps. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 House Democrat; Joe Neguse of Colorado, another member of leadership; and Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, who renounced AIPAC money after the vote.

“AIPAC members are deeply appreciative of their representatives who stand on principle and are disappointed by those who don’t,” AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa said in a statement to Blue Light News.

The move is further evidence of a major shift in AIPAC’s political relationship with House Democrats. Ahead of the midterms, several hard-left progressive candidates have toppled incumbents in primaries after hammering them for accepting AIPAC money, leaving many Democrats to conclude that ties to the pro-Israel group are politically toxic.

According to a snapshot from the Internet Archive, the donation buttons were active as recently as July 6. At that point, the portal also included praise for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

“We thank Congresswoman Pelosi for her support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” a caption on the portal read on July 6 after noting Pelosi is not running for reelection. As of Friday, the thank you was gone — as was a thank you to Pelosi’s fellow California Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley.

Spokespeople for the House Democrats did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Wednesday, more than 100 House Democrats voted for an amendment to a State Department funding bill that would have cut U.S. aid to Israel, marking a massive break in the party’s once unshakable support for the Jewish state. Many of those members cited frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza. The amendment failed, with 98 Democrats including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York opposing it.

Ryan posted on X Wednesday that he expected groups like AIPAC would no longer support his future campaigns and that “frankly, I don’t want their support.”

“Hardline stances that refuse to stand up to a corrupt and increasingly dangerous Netanyahu regime have no place in our politics,” he said.

Congress

Judge rules OMB can’t retroactively nix grants based on new rules

Published

38 minutes ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A federal judge declared Friday that the Trump administration can’t cancel grants based on new rules or goals established after the fact — in a blow to its efforts to terminate billions of dollars already promised.

U.S. district judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, denied the Trump administration’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by 20 states, three governors and the District of Columbia challenging the cancellation of billions of dollars in federal grant awards since President Donald Trump was inaugurated last year.

Federal law does not allow the “terminations of awards based on new program goals or agency priorities that an agency identifies after granting the award,” the court concluded.

The ruling comes as lawmakers in both parties, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), urge White House budget director Russ Vought to delay plans to overhaul the approval process for federal grants. The Trump administration is proposing a new regulation that would put political appointee in charge of approving or mixing awards for federal dollars.

Congress

House GOP releases bill to fund government until after the midterm elections

Published

4 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House GOP leaders released text Friday for a bill to fund the vast majority of the federal government from the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1 until after the midterm elections — bypassing the bipartisan appropriations process and daring Democrats to pick a shutdown fight months before voters head to the polls.

Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he plans to put the legislation on the floor next week.

The measure would fund the government through Dec. 4 and, as Republican leaders promised, would not include additional policy riders or unrelated provisions.

The text released Friday also does not include President Donald Trump’s top policy priority, the partisan elections overhaul and voter ID measure dubbed the SAVE America Act.