Congress
Biden judicial nominations endgame comes into focus
The judicial branch will be top of mind in the legislative branch on Thursday. Senate Democrats are nearing the judicial confirmations total that President-elect Donald Trump achieved in his first term. Meanwhile, the Biden White House is poised to block an expansion of the federal judiciary once it passes the House.
First up: The House will consider the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved Act — or JUDGES Act — on Thursday morning. The measure would incrementally create 66 new federal judicial positions over the next decade. But the White House has vowed to veto the measure, accusing the House of waiting until the results of the November election to take it up. House Democrats are urging their members to vote against the bill, which passed the Senate unanimously earlier this year.
Speaking of the Senate, Democrats notched their 233rd judicial confirmation of the Biden era with the approval of Noel Wise to a federal judicial seat in California late Wednesday. Trump got 234 confirmations over his first four years in office.
The Senate Judiciary Committee meets at 10 a.m. to consider two more nominees for judicial slots in California. If cleared by the committee and considered on the floor, the confirmations of Benjamin Cheeks and Serena Murillo would put Biden ahead of Trump in judicial confirmations — a symbolic if short-lived victory, given the president-elect has a second term ahead starting in January.
Two more end-of-year business matters: The Senate unanimously cleared legislation, championed by Paris Hilton, to boost oversight and accountability for troubled youth programs around the country. It now heads to the House for consideration. Hilton thanked Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for helping lead the bill through the chamber in a social media post.
Additionally, the Senate cleared a House-passed bill that would require educational institutions receiving federal student aid to report hazing incidents. It now heads to Biden’s desk for his signature.
Congress
Musk weighs in on Meta after Zuckerberg’s company donates $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund
The tech billionaires are fighting for Donald Trump’s attention. At least, that’s what it looks like.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, donated $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund, the company confirmed to Blue Light News on Thursday. And this morning, it seemed like fellow billionaire Elon Musk has taken issue with its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s potential involvement in the new administration.
“Concerning,” Musk said on X, responding to a post from conservative commentator Ashley St. Clair claiming — without evidence — that Meta is “actively censoring conservatives right now.” While it’s unclear exactly what Musk was referring to, the original post St. Clair was responding to was a video of a suited up Zuckerberg wakesurfing with an American flag announcing the $1 million donation from an account titled “DogeDesigner.”
It’s not unusual for corporations to contribute to presidential inaugurations, but neither Zuckerberg nor Meta donated to Trump’s inaugural fund in 2017, or to President Biden’s fund in 2021.
The tech giant’s donation comes just weeks after Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump — an additional attempt from the company to mend relations with the Republican party’s MAGA wing after he banned the then-former president from the platform in 2021. Trump’s accounts have since been restored.
Trump and Zuckerberg’s fraught relationship is well documented. In Trump’s book, “Save America,” released in September, he claimed that Zuckerberg plotted against him during the 2020 election and that the Meta CEO would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he did it again. In July, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that if elected, he would pursue “ELECTION FRAUDSTERS at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time. We already know who you are,” before directly addressing Zuckerberg. “DON’T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!”
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone declined to comment on Musk’s post. Spokespeople for Musk via X did not immediately respond for comment.
Congress
House Dems broadly denounce UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting after Warren remarks
Congressional Democrats broadly denounced the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Friday morning, after Republicans started accusing Sen. Elizabeth Warren of excusing violence.
“No one’s condoning this,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.). “Violence never is the right answer for anything. And it was a horrible murder, a tragic loss for his family.”
Warren this week condemned the shooting, but added that people “can be pushed only so far.”
“We’ll say it over and over,” Warren said on BLN’S “The ReidOut.” “Violence is never the answer. This guy [Luigi Mangione] gets a trial who’s allegedly killed the CEO of UnitedHealth, but you can only push people so far, and then they start to take matters into their own hands.”
In a statement to Blue Light News, Warren said, “Violence is never the answer. Period. I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder.” Top Republicans denounced Warren’s comments and the walked-back rhetoric, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) calling it “inappropriate and dangerous.”
Some House Democrats asked about the incident on Thursday pivoted the conversation to discuss policy options on health care or gun safety.
“I don’t really know that this is really a space that Congress normally weighs in on,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas). “But at the end of the day, I think it’s an opportunity, because now people are talking about health care and to talk about the fact that this industry has honestly not been as helpful as it could be.”
“Violence is never the answer,” said Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.). “We know that there are people suffering, there’s great challenges in healthcare. There’s great challenges, and people have, in fact, been wronged, but a process of governance is the way to address that, not violence.”
And Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) who denounced the murder, said the killer should be prosecuted and that “I do know that allegedly a ghost gun was used, and we should also ban ghost guns. There’s no reason for them beyond the streets.”
Congress
Murkowski: ‘I’m not attached to’ Republican label
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Thursday she felt “more comfortable” with no party label than with “an identity as a Republican,” an escalation of the Alaska senator’s occasional bucking of her party as the chamber readies itself for a slew of confirmation battles over Trump administration nominees.
“I’m not attached to a label, I’d rather be that ‘no label.’ I’d rather be that person that is just known for trying to do right by the state and the people that I serve, regardless of party, and I’m totally good and comfortable with that,” Murkowski said during a discussion hosted by the centrist group No Labels at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.
Later on during the discussion, Murkowski clarified that she is “still a Republican” and has “never shed my party label.”
“We’ve got a system in the Senate where there are two sides of the aisle, and I have to sit on one side or I have to sit on the other,” she added.
Murkowski, who has served as a Republican senator from Alaska since 2003, has occasionally defied her party and criticized its members’ willingness to kowtow to President-elect Donald Trump.
“I don’t think I’ve made any secret of the fact that I’m more of a Ronald Reagan Republican than I am a Trump Republican,” she said Thursday. “And someone said, ‘Well, you aren’t really a Republican at all.’ And I said, ‘You can call me whatever you want to call me.’”
Murkowski is seen as one of Democrats’ top hopes to block Trump’s most contentious Cabinet picks, alongside fellow centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
On Thursday, Murkowski predicted “it’s going to be hard in these next four years” because the Trump administration’s “approach is going to be: Everybody tow the line. Everybody line up. We got you here, and if you want to survive, you better be good. Don’t get on Santa’s naughty list here, because we will primary you.”
She pointed specifically to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), whose swing vote could sink Pete Hegseth’s bid to run the Pentagon.
Despite being “one of the more conservative, principled Republican leaders in the Senate right now,” Murkowski said, Republicans are slamming Ernst “for not being good enough” — and she said she is worried the Iowa senator could be primaried.
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