Congress

Capitol agenda: Congress tries again to police itself

Published

1 month ago

August 17, 2026

Reps. Kat Cammack and Teresa Leger Fernández are leading a bipartisan effort to fundamentally change how sexual misconduct and other bad behavior in Congress is investigated and eradicated.

But the goal of changing Congress’ workplace culture could hit a wall of longstanding lawmaker resistance to putting the tools in place to better police themselves.

The duo has been working on legislation for months to reform the Ethics Committee and streamline the process for staffers to report violations, aiming to unveil the framework in September as lawmakers return from recess.

It comes after multiple ethics violations and misconduct allegations have roiled Blue Light News this year.

“I am incredibly optimistic that when we get back into session that we will have a set of reforms that we can all agree on,” Leger Fernández said.

But it remains to be seen if lawmakers are prepared to make big changes that could open them up to further scrutiny amid fears the policies could stoke frivolous claims, fingerpointing and partisan witch hunts.

“Enforcement is where the difficult conversations are happening because enforcement is what makes this real. We’re working through those questions with members directly, which is how real reform gets done,” Cammack said.

Cammack added that every provision must pass the test of “does it actually hold people accountable, or does it just look like it does? Anything that can’t clear that bar isn’t reform, and I’m not interested in reform that’s just for show.”

The last major ethics overhaul happened after the #MeToo movement, with the new law holding lawmakers liable for harassment and establishing a voluntary mediation process for staffers.

But the law didn’t clear the convoluted maze of options for staffers to register their complaints, whether through the Ethics Committee, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights or the Office of Congressional Conduct. Leger Fernández said she wants their bill to establish a “one stop shop” for reporting complaints.

They’re also planning to recommend overhauling the Ethics Committee’s speed in releasing reports, prohibit all House members from having intimate relationships with any congressional staffer, not just those in their offices, and guarantee starker consequences for lawmakers.

Another hurdle: the biggest proposed changes would need buy in from the Senate. Codifying the Office of Congressional Conduct into law is among them, since the OCC currently only has authority over the House. It’s been awash with bipartisan pushback since it was created, with GOP leadership slow-walking some of its board appointments at the start of the 119th Congress.

What else we’re watching:

— PELOSI’S INFLUENCE LIVES ON IN STAFFER DIASPORA: Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be leaving Congress, but dozens of her longtime staffers are sticking around in the House’s top jobs. And several Pelosi alumni can be found in the offices of Minority Whip Katherine Clark as well as Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is likely to become speaker if Democrats take back the majority this November. The diaspora can now be found now running leadership offices, directing committees and helming new teams as chiefs of staff. The continued presence of about 50 former staffers on Capitol Hill means Pelosi’s influence could be felt inside the House Democratic Caucus pulling the levers of power for decades behind the scenes.

— BRAT SPEAKS TRUMP DOWN UNDER — Once an insurgent rabble-rouser in Congress, newly-confirmed Ambassador David Brat is now a Trump world insider sent to Australia as tariffs test the relationship. “He can speak Trump,” James Braid, President Donald Trump’s director of legislative affairs, said in a recent interview. “And I think that will really help him facilitate Aussie-United States relations.” This dynamic could be key as Brat, who represented Virginia’s 7th Congressional District from 2014-2019, gets to work in Canberra, where political leaders have been rattled by Trump’s implementation of a 12.5 percent tariff on Australian goods.

Chris Marquette, Riley Rogerson and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

Congress

Mike Rogers says Iran war needs to “end quickly” amid rising prices

Published

23 minutes ago

September 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers said Monday that the war with Iran “needs to end” to bring prices down, making him the second Republican to break with the White House on the issue that day.

“The war with Iran needs to end, and end quickly,” Rogers said in a video published Monday to social media.

“Michigan families can’t afford to wait,” he added. “Here’s what we can do now: place a temporary embargo on Diesel exports. American energy should provide relief to American families first.”

Earlier Monday, Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican Senate candidate in Iowa, expressed similar frustrations about the war’s impact on Iowans’ pocketbooks. Both Rogers and Hinson called for a suspension of the state and federal gas tax in their statements.

Ahead of the midterms, GOP candidates have expressed concern about the war in the Middle East, saying it has made it difficult for them to run on affordability. The war with Iran, which began in February, has led to marked increases in gas and diesel prices. On Monday, regular gas was just over $4.45 per gallon, according to AAA; diesel prices hit a record of $6.50 per gallon.

Rogers, a former representative, is facing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the race for a Senate seat in battleground Michigan.

Congress

Collins slams Trump plan to ‘politicize’ grants as defying Congress

Published

3 hours ago

September 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins warned Monday that President Donald Trump would be defying Congress if he moves forward with empowering top political appointees to decide who gets grant funding for health research.

“Any attempt to politicize grantmaking … is contrary to congressional intent,” the Maine Republican said in a statement.

Trump wants to issue an executive order to seat White House budget director Russ Vought and National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya on a board that would decide which grants the NIH should fund, according to two administration officials granted anonymity to describe a private meeting in the Oval Office last Friday.

Following reports of that meeting, Collins noted Monday that the stopgap funding patch Congress cleared this summer bars the White House from finalizing a separate proposed rule to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants, or “any substantially similar” plan.

The Office of Management and Budget “should not be involved in agency decisions on the awards of grants,” Collins said, adding that “imposing a political review … undermines the long-standing principle that the government funds awards based on scientific need and merit, rather than political ideology.”

Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the House’s top Democratic appropriator, called the White House’s latest idea an attempt to “take control over federal funding, so they can use it to punish their perceived enemies and reward their friends.”

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator, warned that the move would mean “a single political appointee could kill a cancer study or an Alzheimer’s trial with no scientific reason at all.”

A spokesperson for House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole did not return a request for comment regarding the Oklahoma Republican’s position.

Congress

Hinson calls for end to Iran war amid soaring diesel costs

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) on Monday expressed frustration over the ongoing war in Iran and its impact on Iowans’ pocketbooks, publicly distancing herself from President Donald Trump ahead of November’s rapidly approaching midterm elections.

“Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran,” Hinson said in a post to social media on Monday. “We need to use every option at our disposal to provide some relief from high prices.”

It’s the second time Hinson, the GOP candidate in Iowa’s critical Senate race and a loyal ally of Trump’s, has expressed concerns over the war. In June, Blue Light News obtained audio of Hinson warning the war could become a “political liability” if it continued much longer. Hinson did not mention Trump by name in her Monday statement.

Hinson called for suspending the gas tax, pausing diesel exports and creating a diesel relief program to help farmers and truckers “being crushed by the high costs,” among several other possible solutions.

“These actions to lower costs are needed ASAP, and the war needs to be brought to a successful and immediate end,” she added.

Gas and diesel prices have soared over the duration of the war with Iran, which began in February. Regular gas was just over $4.45 per gallon on Monday, according to AAA, and diesel prices hit a record high of $6.50 per gallon.

Trump and members of his administration have dismissed concerns over the costs.

“You have a little higher. It’s a very inexpensive price to pay for what we’ve done,” Trump said during a campaign stop in North Carolina last week. “Remember that. It’s a little more. Frankly, even if it was a lot more.”

Hinston on Monday said she will “work with anyone who is ready to tackle this challenge immediately.”