Congress

Happy New Year, the debt limit is here. Get ready for an all-out war over it.

Published

2 years ago

December 30, 2024

GOP leaders are staring down two bad options to solve President-elect Donald Trump’s debt-limit problem, after failing to execute his demand to lift the federal borrowing cap in the last government funding bill.

One path requires full buy-in from Republican lawmakers to address the issue via budget reconciliation — a huge challenge thanks to the party’s fierce fiscal hawks. The other entails winning over Democrats, who for the most part rejected Trump’s initial debt-limit gambit last week.

“Whoever advised the president that it was even possible needs to better understand how this place works,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said about Trump’s latest push to raise the debt limit.

It’s going to be an urgent issue for Trump as soon as he takes office. The federal government will resume the cap on its borrowing authority on Jan. 1, as the U.S. sits on a national debt of more than $36 trillion, though the Treasury Department can buy time for a number of months with so-called extraordinary measures. The fiscal time bomb illustrates the struggle Trump and Republican leaders face heading into 2025, as they consider whether to court Democrats who will want concessions or their own conservatives who are known for rigidly sticking to their demands to cut funding.

“I’ve told my caucus, if they try to do it under reconciliation, they’ll lose my vote,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Friday. “I told them: You want to kill reconciliation, put something on that we don’t like.”

It’s going to be a huge challenge for Republicans to raise the debt ceiling on their own. In exchange for increasing it by $1.5 trillion, House GOP leaders have told conservatives they’ll look for $2.5 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending — the bucket of money that controls things like SNAP nutrition assistance, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare — in an upcoming reconciliation bill. That legislation is also supposed to deal with huge party priorities on border security, energy and taxes, which Republicans also say they’ll find a way to pay for. And, as Paul illustrates, fiscal conservatives are already voicing opposition to handling the debt limit through that party-line process.

Paul said he thinks other Senate conservatives have also told GOP leaders they won’t vote for a reconciliation package that raises the debt limit. With a 53-seat majority in the Senate next year, opposition from just a few Republicans will sink those dreams.

Getting Republicans to agree on $2.5 trillion in cuts to mandatory programs over 10 years would also be a challenge for GOP leaders. Trump has ruled out reductions to Social Security and Medicare, the costliest of the programs. Of the roughly $4 trillion the U.S. government spends on mandatory programs each year, Social Security benefits alone total almost $1.5 trillion.

Democrats say the proposal is a public relations nightmare for the GOP.

“Listen, this is the gift that keeps on giving,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said. “This is the absolute worst case for the country — a massive tax cut for the richest of the rich, paid for by slashing, to the bone, health care for seniors and poor kids.”

Raising the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, even with corresponding funding cuts, would not keep the nation from hitting the borrowing cap for long. The U.S. budget deficit, the gap between how much comes in from revenue like taxes and how much is spent, was $1.8 trillion in the fiscal year that ended in September. Congress’ nonpartisan budget scorekeeper projects that interest payments on the national debt will total almost $900 billion next year.

And the timing for when Congress will absolutely need to address the debt limit is tricky, adding to the challenge for Republican leaders.

After the debt ceiling is reinstated on Jan. 1, the Treasury Department will immediately deploy the typical “extraordinary measures,” cash-shifting accounting tactics to ensure the country can continue to pay its bills for at least a few months longer. Then a surge of revenue will begin to flow into federal coffers when tax filing season begins at the end of January, keeping the U.S. from hitting its borrowing limit for a few more months.

All the while, the Treasury secretary will keep refining an “X-date” prediction for when the U.S. would default on its loans without action from Congress. Last year, money from taxes came in far lower than predicted, suddenly speeding up the forecast default date to early June, after lawmakers had assumed they had until August or September to pass a fix.

“Extraordinary measures will extend what the actual, true, de-facto deadline is. But we saw just last year that can vary wildly,” noted Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

Boyle has long pushed for passage of a bill that would let the Treasury Department continue paying the nation’s bills, despite the debt ceiling, similar to the proposal outgoing Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell floated during previous standoffs over raising the U.S. borrowing limit. But many fiscal conservatives are opposed.

“I want to keep the debt limit. I like it,” Sen. Ron Johnson said last week.

The Wisconsin Republican said he is also opposed to raising the debt limit through reconciliation and plans to roll out a “debt ceiling budget” in early 2025 that illustrates how the national debt has “grown grotesquely” above inflation and population growth in recent years.

Raising the risk of a debt-limit crisis is less advantageous for Republicans as the GOP takes control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, especially as Trump so adamantly insists on swift action and has even called on lawmakers to “terminate” the nation’s borrowing cap altogether. But Democrats warn that slim GOP majorities and demands from fiscal conservatives keep alive the specter of economic catastrophe.

“When they have the trifecta, there’s really no point — other than old bad habits — to threatening the economy with the debt limit,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), outgoing chair of the Senate Budget Committee.

“It’s the bear trap in the bedroom Republicans love to leave around for negotiating purposes,” Whitehouse added. “Now that they’ve got the trifecta, it loses some of its negotiating appeal and remains extremely, extremely dangerous.”

Congress

Lawmakers urge Congress to act after AI researcher’s dire warning

Published

10 minutes ago

September 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Lawmakers in both parties are escalating pleas for legislative action after an artificial intelligence researcher claimed late Tuesday that unchecked AI models could feasibly destroy the world by the decade’s end — and AI developers know it.

While it’s not the first time experts have warned of the existential threats posed by an unregulated industry that is rapidly advancing, it comes at a moment of heightened awareness on Capitol Hill about the need to reach consensus on AI safety legislation before it’s too late.

“The call is coming from inside the house,” Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, a House Democrat seeking to lead her party on AI policy, posted on X Wednesday. “Safety researchers are resigning, powerful AI models are breaking out of their labs, and companies are racing ahead anyway.”

She was responding to social media posts from former Anthropic AI researcher Jason Coxon, whose warnings were first reported in the Wall Street Journal.

“I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic,” said Coxon, who specialized in training models. “Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.”

He added: “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt.”

Adding to the alarm, Evan Hubinger, a top Anthropic scientist charged with ensuring AI aligns with human values and ethics, agreed with Coxon’s characterization of the situation.

“We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade,” he posted. “I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.”

Spokespeople for OpenAI and Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but leaders of both companies have engaged with Congress in the not so distant past on the issue. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei made a direct plea to lawmakers to impose limits on AI development in a New York Times op-ed last year, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has repeatedly visited congressional offices this year.

Trahan was not the only member of Congress Wednesday to join the calls for guardrails now.

Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California — a member of leadership and co-chair of an AI commission that Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries charged with formulating AI policy recommendations — called Coxon’s post “exhibit number 739 for why we need to pass the bipartisan AI Kill Switch Bill asap.”

Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida urged Congress to convene a special session on AI, asserting “not enough of Congress is focusing on this.”

“We MUST be ready,” she wrote. “This is happening whether or not we want it to.”

But lawmakers remain far apart on agreeing to any plan. Trahan continues to push for Congress to pass her bipartisan AI safety bill with Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte of California as members of both parties say it falls short.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has often been ahead of the pack in calling for strict standards — including his latest proposal that would ban AI superintelligence — declared on social media that 81 percent of Americans believe the government is not doing enough to regulate AI.

“AI threatens our economy, privacy, democracy and the well-being of our kids,” he said. “Congress must stand up to the Big Tech oligarchs and protect the American people.

Sanders’ proposal with House Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) to ban AI superintelligence, however, was widely panned by colleagues who said barring innovation was not the answer.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Will Schumer go long for college sports?

Published

2 hours ago

September 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is about to step into a political minefield as the Senate takes up a college sports bill as soon as next week — with perhaps as many reasons for his caucus to oppose it as support it.

Senators return to Washington Monday to a three-week window for legislating before they depart until November — and internal splits on both sides of the aisle are threatening passage of legislation to impose new federal rules on an industry worth tens of billions of dollars.

Schumer must decide if he wants to steer his members toward helping Republicans reach the 60-vote threshold on what could be the sweepiest bill the chamber passes before the midterms.

Backing it would mean supporting top Commerce Democrat Maria Cantwell’s efforts in crafting the bipartisan legislation that has taken months of painstaking negotiations with her counterpart, Chair Ted Cruz. But there are also plenty of downsides to promoting the bill — which has President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

One Democratic Senate aide with knowledge of the negotiations believes there’s enough opposition within the party to tank the measure on the floor as a coalition of labor rights groups and the Congressional Black Caucus warn the bill is exploitative.

“A good number of Democratic offices aren’t eager to tick off the AFL-CIO and NAACP, screw over college athletes and deliver Trump and Senate Republicans a major political win weeks before midterms,” another Democratic Senate aide with knowledge of the negotiations said.

“Bad policy. Terrible politics,” the aide added.

An aide for Schumer Tuesday did not say whether he supports the legislation. The spokesperson said Schumer “knows Congress should act to bring clarity and certainty” to the issues addressed in the measure, and that he’s “continuing to talk to members as the bill moves toward the floor.”

But continued pushback from Democratic members like Sen. Chris Murphy and the CBC — plus several labor, civil rights and athletes organizations — have thrown into question Democrats’ support.

Murphy, who has objected to the bill’s silence on college athletes’ employee status, has led the charge against the bill, refuting several posts from Cruz on social media this week.

Still, a lobbyist working on the bill, granted anonymity to discuss the dynamics, said they “could see Schumer letting [defectors] go their own way.”

“I also suspect that [Dems’] own tallies are probably showing that they can afford votes like that,” the lobbyist said of Schumer.

Meanwhile, Republicans are still working through their own divide on the bill: concerns over whether the legislation would pre-empt states’ authority to block trans athletes from competing on women’s sports teams.

Trump last month encouraged Republicans not to stand in the way of the measure over the issue after senators like Josh Hawley and Tommy Tuberville expressed hesitation.

But even if the bill were to eke by in the Senate, a hefty amount of opposition in both parties is bound to create an uphill battle in the House, where Majority Leader Steve Scalise has been less than enthusiastic about the package.

What else we’re watching:

— GOP HOPES DALLAS ENERGIZES TRUMP FANS: Republicans are hoping the Trump-centric midterm convention kicking off in Dallas Wednesday reminds their base why they fell in love with the president in the first place. The next 48 hours are geared in part toward turning out low-propensity voters who are loyal to Trump but tend to skip midterm elections. If they turn out, it won’t be because these voters like a particular congressman but because of their affinity for the president.

— COLLINS DINGS WHITE HOUSE ON TARIFFS: Sen. Susan Collins says the White House doesn’t understand how its trade war with Canada is affecting Maine. The border-state senator facing a tough re-election bid told Blue Light News she has spoken with Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer about the escalating tariffs between the two countries and encouraged them to re-open negotiations. Collins late Tuesday applauded the Trump administration’s tariff exemptions on road salt and cement, stating they were “two products crucial to Maine that would be severely affected.”

Jacob Wendler, Alex Gangitano, Jessica Piper and Megan Messerly contributed to this report.

Congress

Schumer and Jeffries opposed a Brooklyn power play. It happened anyway.

Published

5 hours ago

September 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

NEW YORK — Democrats are at war in Brooklyn over a maneuver some inside the party have called “corrupt,” a “power-grab” and even “fascist.” And they’re not talking about Republicans.

With weeks to go before the midterm elections, an intraparty feud is on full display among Democrats jockeying for control of the party apparatus in one of the bluest, most populous counties in the country. And some in the party worry the quarrel is exposing the limits of the party’s two most powerful politicians: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Brooklynites.

“It is not great if you’re a powerful national Democrat and you can’t stop what is functionally a coup d’etat from happening in the county party in your own backyard,” said Democratic strategist Jon Paul Lupo, noting that the Brooklyn contretemps “definitely has repercussions” and an “impact on their standing among Democrats.”

“There’s a huge incentive to try and fix it,” he added.

Controversies are by no means foreign to the Brooklyn Democratic Party. But this fight has drawn in some of New York’s biggest political names as they lambast its chair, state Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn. In the weeks before a contested leadership election, she moved to change the makeup of the organization by expanding its executive committee, claiming it would promote inclusivity. Her critics insist it’s really just a play to boost her dwindling support ahead of the vote.

Democrats across the ideological spectrum — including Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs, as well as Schumer and Jeffries — came out against the move. Schumer warned such a change “sends the wrong message when we need to rally voters for the November election.”

But even the widespread criticism wasn’t enough to stop her proposed changes. A vote to implement them was held last month and narrowly passed, 21 to 19 with one abstention.

In the wake of that vote, leaders aligned with Brooklyn Can’t Wait, the self-described reformer group that claimed they had enough support to unseat Bichotte Hermelyn, are wondering if Schumer and Jeffries could be doing more to support them.

Julio Peña III — Brooklyn Can’t Wait’s pick to challenge Bichotte Hermelyn for chair — told Blue Light News last week he appreciated Schumer and Jeffries coming out publicly against Bichotte Hermelyn’s maneuver, but said he has not spoken with either.

“I do think this does not send a good message that this power grab from straight out of the Republican playbook is happening in our own backyard in Brooklyn,” he said. “We would love if they can have conversations with either … individual district leaders, or the party chair, and just say like, ‘This needs to stop.’ We’re hopeful that that can still happen.”

When asked if he thinks they would have sway, he replied: “I would hope so.”

Julio Peña III speaks at a rally opposing changing the makeup of the Brooklyn Democratic Party's executive committee in front of Brooklyn Borough Hall on Aug. 24, 2026.

Chi Ossé, a progressive New York City Council member who briefly considered a primary challenge against Jeffries last year, wrote on social media that “a simple call or text to a couple of these district leaders” from Jeffries and Schumer “would’ve changed the results.”

“Either they don’t care about this affront to our democracy happening in their own backyard or people don’t take their leadership seriously,” he said.

The collective pushback is uncommon in a local battle — a reality Democratic strategist Evan Stavisky said highlights how this isn’t a “run-of-the-mill fight in Brooklyn.”

But both Schumer and Jeffries have more pressing priorities to deal with beyond Brooklyn. Control of Congress tops that list.

“Anything aside from that mission, no matter how important it is, has to take a backseat,” Stavisky said. “That’s why it’s remarkable [Jeffries] and Sen. Schumer both opined on this. Their job has to be winning tough races outside of the city of New York and outside the state of New York.”

When asked if Jeffries plans to get further involved in the Brooklyn battle, spokesperson Justin Chermol said the minority leader’s focus is on the midterms.

“Leader Jeffries has publicly and privately made clear that he opposes the Kings County Democratic Party rule change,” he said in a statement last week. “With 60 days left until the midterms, he is focused on battling Republicans, fighting for an Affordable America and taking back control of the United States House of Representatives so we can end this national nightmare.”

Schumer’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Democrats are clear-eyed that what’s going on with their county party is a mess — and want to move on so they can focus on the midterms. But some pushed back on the idea that either Jeffries or Schumer should get further involved, arguing that issuing a statement was enough.

Lupe Todd-Medina, a political consultant and longtime Jeffries ally, contended that for some of Jeffries’ critics, no matter what he does, “it’s not enough.”

She questioned when he would even have the time to make calls to district leaders on this: “He’s got a lot going on,” she said. “You’re talking about a hyperlocal position.”

The fight is playing out in court. After the reformers unsuccessfully sought legal action in state Supreme Court to stop the rule-change vote, they sued again. That suit argues outgoing county committee members should not have been allowed to participate, and that if they were excluded, the amendments would have failed.

A ruling is still pending after a hearing Tuesday.

Bichotte Hermelyn has argued it was fair game to amend the county party’s internal rules and leadership structure — and she’s taking the drama in stride on social media. In a video posted last week, she questioned the outrage over “more people” being involved in the committee, insisted they “didn’t undo any election” and mocked her opponents, saying they had “been out-organized again.”

In between cuts of her eating a Haitian beef patty, Bichotte Hermelyn, the first Haitian-American woman elected to the state Assembly from New York City, said, “Melting down over a harmless rule change, but Haitians are being fired. That didn’t deserve a statement?”

The reference was to how, after the Trump administration ended temporary protected status for Haitians, Mamdani fired municipal employees who had the status. Bichotte Hermelyn wrote an op-ed questioning the move. The mayor said the city kept people on the payroll as long as legally possible.

A spokesperson for the Brooklyn Democratic Party did not respond to questions directed at Bichotte Hermelyn regarding communications with Schumer and Jeffries, or the court fight.

Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn has said it's fair game to amend the county party’s internal rules and leadership structure.

Amid all the division, some have floated the idea of a consensus candidate. But Peña said he doesn’t think the 22 district leaders supporting him will flip. (Twenty-two votes would constitute a majority under the original structure of the committee, but not after Bichotte Hermelyn’s changes.)

While Jeffries and Schumer spoke out against the changes, neither have explicitly put their weight behind either candidate.

A Brooklyn Democratic insider, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said it’s a “big mistake” to assume that Jeffries has a “magical allegiance to anyone.”

“It is not his responsibility to manage anyone’s campaign,” that person said. “It’s lazy for anyone to expect him to clean up messes.”

Frank Seddio, a former Brooklyn party head who’s now a district leader and helped orchestrate the latest rule changes, said he hasn’t heard from Jeffries or his team and that he doesn’t believe any other party members have either.

“I guess he’s staying out of it,” Seddio said. “It’s not his business … although he’s certainly someone I admire and respect and one of the most important people in the United States.”

The Brooklyn Democratic Party hasn’t been an integral organization to campaigning. In fact, some Democrats have accused Bichotte Hermelyn of actively helping Republican opponents and waging a legal battle to remove district leader candidates aligned with Brooklyn Can’t Wait from the ballot. But the party does have power in nominating judicial candidates, a process Peña and his allies say they want to make more transparent.

Bichotte Hermelyn has served as chair since 2020. The leadership vote that will decide her fate has yet to be scheduled, but party rules dictate that vote must take place by Oct. 6.

If she remains in her role, Lupo warned, it could become fodder for Republican attacks about the “evil specter of corrupt New York Democrats in Brooklyn.”

“It’s not like Hakeem Jeffries did this or Chuck Schumer did this,” he said. “It’s very different from Trump’s active interference in democracy, but it can be weaponized by Republicans if it goes through.”

Much of the concern is likely to quiet down if Democrats do retake Congress — and Schumer and Jeffries claim the highest leadership positions. But if they don’t, critics, especially from the left flank of the party, are likely to get even louder.

The latter scenario would make having a cohesive county party even more critical, said Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the New York Democratic Party.

“It does create vulnerability depending on what happens to Democrats nationally at the end of the cycle,” Smikle said. “There’ll be questions about Hakeem’s leadership and Chuck’s leadership. … If you don’t have a strong county organization pushing those voices back, those detractors back, that creates real vulnerability.”

Chris Sommerfeldt contributed to this report.