Congress

Capitol agenda: Dems try to twist knife in Trump-GOP tensions

Published

1 month ago

May 21, 2026

A marathon vote series on the Senate floor Thursday could be a big test of President Donald Trump’s ability to get his agenda through Congress after wracking up a body count of lawmakers who have crossed him.

Senate Republicans are expected to bring their party-line immigration enforcement funding bill to the floor today after months of negotiations. But they still need to run through a procedural gauntlet of votes by Democrats who are eager to spotlight growing divisions between the president and members of his own party.

The votes come at a particularly sour time for Senate Republicans, many of whom are still reeling from the president’s successful primary challenge last weekend ending Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s two-term career in the chamber and his late-breaking endorsement Tuesday undercutting Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s reelection bid.

GOP frustration with Trump and the White House’s handling of the reconciliation bill was already boiling up this week, with Republicans expected to deal a blow to the president by stripping a prized ballroom security funding provision, POLITICO scooped.

Republicans have also shrugged off Trump’s calls to fire the Senate’s parliamentarian, who earlier ruled against inclusion of the ballroom funds to the bill.

Now Democrats will look to the “vote-a-rama” process to crank up the pressure and squeeze vulnerable Republican incumbents on a range of Trump priorities and controversies.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said Democrats will offer amendments related to high costs of living, masked immigration raids, the Iran war, “secret payouts, cop-beater checks, ballroom favors, and Trump family corruption.”

High on Democrats’ amendment list: Attacking the Justice Department’s new $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which many Republicans were already uneasy about. Democrats have called the money a “slush fund” for Trump allies after officials didn’t rule out that the pot could go toward those charged with storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Democrats are considering multiple strategies, including potentially trying to block the fund outright or ban any payments to Trump supporters who beat law enforcement officers that day, according to Schumer. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he will offer an amendment to prevent Jan. 6 defendants or child sex offenders from getting payments.

It’s not just the fund that Democrats are planning to target. Sen. Adam Schiff’s list of amendments will include measures to discharge overdue disaster aid in California and other states still awaiting funds from FEMA, Jordain scooped.

Republicans meanwhile are working on their own proposal — which they could put in the yet-to-be unveiled reconciliation bill or offer as an amendment — to restrict the weaponization fund in an effort to get ahead of Democrats’ demands, according to two people granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Republicans are also likely to pitch other amendments: Sen. Josh Hawley has vowed to offer an amendment to extend a ban on Planned Parenthood funding; and Sen. John Kennedy is expected to try to attach Trump’s election security-focused SAVE America Act.

Senators will try to power through the multi-hour vote and deliver the bill to the House by Friday, letting members leave town for the Memorial Day break.

What else we’re watching:

— SENATORS SEARCH FOR HOUSING BILL COMPROMISE: The White House is telling the Senate to pass the embattled housing affordability package that overwhelmingly cleared the House on a 396-13 vote Wednesday. Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott and ranking member Elizabeth Warren signaled they are still pushing for changes.

— DEMS LOOK FOR ANOTHER WAR POWERS WIN: GOP defectors could hand Democrats a war powers success in the House today after delivering a win in the Senate Tuesday. Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to whip against the resolution, but the final tally could ultimately come down to which lawmakers show up to the floor.

Jennifer Scholtes, Katherine Hapgood, Connor O’Brien and Leo Shane III contributed to this report

Congress

Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

Published

1 day ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.

McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.

The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.”

Blue Light News has not independently verified the dispatch call.

The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

Congress

House Ethics says it doesn’t have information to share on lawmaker sexual misconduct settlements

Published

1 day ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House adopted a resolution Tuesday requiring the House Ethics Committee to release information on taxpayer funds used to pay out sexual misconduct settlements with lawmakers — but the committee now says it has no information it can share.

In a statement Thursday, the committee reiterated it does not manage sexual harassment lawsuits or their settlements; taxpayers have not footed the bill for those payments since 2018.

Since that time, according to the statement, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member.”

Instead, the bipartisan Ethics Committee said it was up to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of each member who has received settlements for sexual misconduct allegations, as mandated by the resolution championed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

The committee, in the Thursday statement, said it “fully supports the release of information about sexual misconduct settlements and calls on OCWR to abide by [the resolution] and make publicly available information about Member sexual misconduct matters resulting in payment of taxpayer funds.”

Massie, in a text message Thursday, said “OCWR can release it.”

The OCWR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Ethics Committee has been under pressure in recent months to show it takes allegations of sexual misconduct against colleagues seriously. Two former House members — Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — were forced to resign earlier this year amid serious accusations against them.

The renewed reckoning has prompted new questions about whether the House is up to the task of policing its own. The resolution earlier this week was adopted nearly unanimously, with just one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voting “present.”

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said in an interview earlier this week that while he would support Massie’s resolution, the relevant “information was already out in the public domain.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

AOC endorses El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Published

2 days ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign for Michigan’s open Senate seat on Thursday, a decision that comes as progressives look to capitalize off a series of recent high-profile primary victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere.

Her endorsement could provide El-Sayed with a critical boost just over a month before the state’s Aug. 4 primary. The former public health official is locked in a heated contest against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the right to take on Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.

It also comes as El-Sayed has risen to the top of the pack in recent public polling.

Virtually any Democratic path to flipping the Senate in this year’s midterms would see the party hold the open Michigan Senate seat, with two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) retiring at the end of his term.

The race has emerged as perhaps the largest battleground over the ideological future of the party. El-Sayed, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, has collected endorsements from progressives, while Stevens has the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with AIPAC also boosting her candidacy.

El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The New York Times, is her party’s best chance.

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” she said. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”