Congress

Capitol agenda: Battle of the budgets coming next week

Published

3 hours ago

February 7, 2025

Next week is shaping up to be a battle of the budgets.

House Republicans spent hours Thursday reworking their one-bill plan in two separate meetings — one at the White House, with some limited involvement from President Donald Trump. But despite Speaker Mike Johnson’s stated intentions to unveil a framework today, he told reporters late Thursday night that House Republicans would be working on it all weekend.

GOP leadership is starting to tell some members that full details won’t be available until Monday. Majority Leader Steve Scalise said after the late-night meeting they still hadn’t agreed on a topline.

On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham has indicated he’s ready to start moving on his two-bill plan next week. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said Thursday that Graham “is ready to go” — and Sen. Rick Scott said that his fellow Budget Committee members should “absolutely” move forward as planned.

GOP senators will descend on Mar-a-Lago tonight, where they’ll talk to Trump about their two-bill approach. Johnson suggested he will run his plans by the president a bit later, smiling as he told reporters that Republicans will continue working “on Saturday and Sunday at the Super Bowl” — both Johnson and Trump are attending.

Scalise and Budget Chair Jodey Arrington reiterated their goal to get the plan through Arrington’s panel next week. Johnson said Thursday night there were working out “a couple final details” but that “Tuesday’s the target” for committee action. Arrington suggested it may be later in the week.

Negotiators are aiming to include a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts. To keep the package budget-neutral — as it is expected to be labeled — they are eyeing as much as $2 trillion in spending cuts. They expect some other proposed tax changes won’t be permanent.

Asked if the final bill will hit the budget-neutral goal, Johnson said: “It should, that’s the plan.”

What else we’re watching:

Johnson-Netanyahu meeting: The speaker is scheduled to meet with the Israeli prime minister at 10 a.m., after Johnson had to cancel a photo opportunity Thursday due to the Republican gathering at the White House.
Spending split: Top Senate appropriator Susan Collins told reporters Thursday that she and her House counterpart, Tom Cole, are continuing to trade topline government funding proposals with Democrats. She added, “I would not say that we are close.” The government shutdown deadline is March 14.
Nominations: Democratic senators are trying to slow down confirmation votes on Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary; they forced extra procedural votes Thursday before Thune moved to end debate on their nominations. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman said he’d oppose both afterward, but no Republicans have indicated publicly they would vote against either one.

Nicholas Wu and Ben Leonard contributed to this report.

Congress

Mike Johnson says Democrats ‘unresponsive’ ahead of shutdown deadline

Published

31 minutes ago

February 7, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday morning that Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries “seemed to be trying to set up some sort of a government shutdown.”

“We have been negotiating in good faith, trying to get a top-line number. But so far as I know, they’ve been unresponsive the past two days or so,” Johnson said.

The speaker weighed in as anxieties are spiking about the coming March 14 deadline for extending government funding. Democrats have grown wary about cutting a deal with Republicans as President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk move swiftly to unilaterally cut agency funding

Top appropriators have been negotiating in recent weeks about a top-line spending number — a necessary first step toward passing funding for the remainder of fiscal 2025. The chair of the House Appropriations Committee, in fact, said Thursday night — contra Johnson — that those talks are ongoing.

“We are actively exchanging proposals,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said. “You know, we are exchanging things back and forth.”

The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (R-Conn.), said much the same Friday after Johnson spoke: “The speaker is mistaken. No one has walked away from the table. We sent them an offer yesterday. He should give Chairman Cole a call for a status update.”

Congress

House GOP tees up hearing on Trump’s foreign aid overhaul

Published

2 hours ago

February 7, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing next week on the U.S. Agency for International Development amid the Trump administration’s contentious efforts to shrink the institution, according to a notice obtained by Blue Light News.

The hearing, announced Thursday night to panel members by chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.), is titled “The USAID Betrayal” and is set to examine concerns over U.S. foreign aid policies. The hearing is set for Thursday at 8:30 a.m., and former Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho and Bill Steiger, who served as the agency’s chief of staff during the first Trump administration, are set to testify.

The move is unlikely to satisfy Democrats, who have been furious about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle a federally codified agency, calling it unconstitutional and warning of dire humanitarian and geopolitical consequences. The have demanded an urgent hearing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Peter Marocco, State’s director of foreign assistance.

President Donald Trump, urged by Elon Musk, has shut down USAID headquarters, fired contractors and placed employees on leave.

Mast and other Republicans have largely backed Trump on the moves, which include folding USAID into the State Department, accusing the agency of wasteful spending.

Congress

Fetterman says he’ll oppose Gabbard, RFK Jr.

Published

13 hours ago

February 7, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who has been willing to buck his party to confirm some of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, is ruling out voting for two of the president’s most controversial nominees: Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Fetterman said in a post on X Thursday night that he won’t vote to confirm Gabbard as director of national intelligence or Kennedy as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Both are now expected to be confirmed after their nominations had been seen to be in jeopardy.

“I have met with most of the cabinet nominees and have carefully watched their confirmation hearings,” Fetterman wrote. “After considering what’s at stake, I have voted against moving forward to the confirmation of Ms. Gabbard and Mr. Kennedy, and will be voting NO on their confirmations.”

Fetterman was the lone Democrat to vote to confirm Pam Bondi as Trump’s attorney general, was one of two Democrats to vote to confirm Scott Turner as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and was the sole Democrat to cast a committee vote advancing billionaire Howard Lutnick’s nomination to lead the Commerce Department.

A potential 2028 presidential candidate, Fetterman met with Donald Trump earlier this year and has sought to differentiate himself from the Democratic party brand after a bruising election.