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Congress

Capitol agenda: GOP dares Dems to buck bipartisan spending bill

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9 months ago

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Democrats have to decide Thursday whether voting in favor of advancing a full-year appropriations bill will weaken their negotiating position in the government shutdown.

Republicans are daring Democrats to oppose bipartisan legislation to fund the Department of Defense for fiscal 2026. Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he’s also hoping to tack on appropriations measures to fund the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services.

Democrats have been clamoring for progress on “regular order” spending bills, but now they’re on the fence amid the larger partisan shutdown standoff. That includes Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

“We have to see what [Republicans] put on the floor,” Schumer told reporters. “They haven’t told us yet.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) is one Democrat who could end up breaking rank: while she stopped short of saying how she would vote Thursday, she told reporters Wednesday she supports moving forward with the appropriations process amid the shutdown.

But Minority Whip Dick Durbin said Wednesday it would be a “long shot” for Democrats to shore up the necessary votes to break the Senate filibuster and advance the defense bill. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) argued now is not the time for Democrats to give up leverage, as the party continues to push for an agreement to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies to protect individuals from losing insurance amid steep insurance hikes.

“We are weeks away from people getting notified, if they haven’t been notified already, of skyrocketing health care costs,” Kelly said, referring to the Nov. 1 start date for widespread ACA open enrollment. “That should be the focus. Not a single defense appropriations bill.”

Many Democrats have a desire to reach a broader appropriations deal before playing ball on individual funding measures. They also want to know whether Republicans will consent to attaching the Labor-HHS appropriations bill to the Defense measure.

“What’s needed is a larger agreement about how the appropriations process is going to move forward so it’s clear that our priorities are respected,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told reporters.

The showdown Thursday comes as senators are separately deliberating whether to kickstart the formal process of resolving differences with the House on the Senate-passed, three-bill “minibus” to fund the Departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, the FDA and the operations of Congress.

Democrats are reluctant to move forward on that package for the same reasons they are wary about advancing the defense bill, while Republicans are also not united: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been withholding support due to an outstanding provision regarding hemp, according to a Senate aide granted anonymity to disclose private discussions.

But Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who chairs the Agriculture-FDA appropriations subcommittee, projected confidence that Republicans could eventually shore up their ranks.

What else we’re watching:   

— A new shutdown demand?: Many Democrats want to make their votes to reopen the government contingent on an administration promise to rehire federal workers fired during the shutdown. However, Schumer hasn’t weighed in, and it could complicate the path out of the shutdown as Democrats navigate an already-intense battle over extending health insurance subsidies.

— Senate moves forward on judges: As the federal courts are poised to run out of money Friday, one key pillar of the Trump agenda is not on pause during the shutdown: expanding the president’s influence on the federal courts. Senate Judiciary is set to vote Thursday on two potential district court judges to fill vacancies in the Northern District of Mississippi, along with other U.S. attorney nominees.

Nicholas Wu, Mia McCarthy and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.

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Congress

Top Trump officials face bipartisan questions in first all-member Iran briefings

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43 minutes ago

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June 29, 2026

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Lawmakers of both parties questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff Monday in the first broad congressional briefings on President Donald Trump’s Iran deal.

While Democrats asked some of the sharpest questions, participants in an afternoon conference call with House members said, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) at one point pressed the administration officials on the fate of Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium.

According to two people granted anonymity to disclose the private remarks, Witkoff and Rubio repeated assurances the administration has privately made to select lawmakers in prior briefings — that the goal is to negotiate a final deal that would prohibit Iran from keeping its highly enriched uranium.

The memorandum of understanding Trump signed earlier this month, they said, was meant to launch those negotiations. Witkoff, the people said, added that the technical team involved in that part of the talks was traveling from Switzerland to Qatar, where talks between the U.S. and Iran are set to happen Tuesday.

Democrats, meanwhile, pushed the administration for more details on what financial benefits Iran could reap under the memorandum — including proceeds from previously sanctioned oil sales.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) went back and forth with Rubio and Witkoff over the lifting of the oil sanctions, two other people granted anonymity on the House call said. The officials eventually cut off the conversation and ended the call.

At another point, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) raised concerns about Witkoff’s business interests in the Middle East as he’s negotiating with Iran, prompting a sharp defense from Rubio, those people said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked Rubio and Witkoff about the oil sanctions during a separate all-senators call Monday, saying in a statement afterward that they “confirmed to me that Iran will reap billions in oil revenue while retaining dangerous leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.”

“If this is the administration’s defense behind closed doors, Secretary Rubio should make it under oath, in public, before the Foreign Relations Committee,” Schumer added, calling the briefing “delayed, deficient, and devoid of details.”

An administration official granted anonymity to speak candidly countered on Schumer’s characterization, noting that he had previously gotten a briefing of the deal as part of a group of top leaders engaged on national security matters. Schumer, the official said, had the opportunity to ask multiple follow-up questions on the Senate call.

A separate group of White House officials briefed top congressional leaders and key committee chairs in a classified briefing in the Capitol later Monday.

The administration has faced bipartisan skepticism over multiple provisions of the memorandum of understanding — particularly the lifting of oil sanctions and a $300 billion reconstruction fund that many Senate Republicans fear will help fuel Iran’s military and regional proxies.

Rubio and Witkoff sought to ease concerns about the slow reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — the critical trade route whose closure has sparked higher fuel and fertilizer costs. Both officials said more mine removal is required, and Witkoff indicated that Iran broke the terms of the Trump-signed deal by launching a drone attack on a passing ship over the weekend.

They also sought to assure lawmakers that Iran has received no money under the memorandum — especially not directly from American sources. Administration officials have previously pledged in smaller briefings that the reconstruction fund won’t include U.S. funds.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) called the Senate briefing a “productive conversation” but said “much of what I heard today is similar to what I heard last week” during a dinner at Vice President JD Vance’s residence.

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Congress

Senate Ethics dismisses allegations against Ruben Gallego

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5 hours ago

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June 29, 2026

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The Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed allegations of misconduct levied against Sen. Ruben Gallego, who stood accused by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of “campaign finance violations and inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature.”

The charges came following the resignation of the Arizona Democrat’s longtime friend, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who was forced to step down amid accusations of serious sexual misconduct. Luna, a Florida Republican, sought to implicate Gallego by claiming in an interview on CBS that a woman would come forward about an “incident that occurred between the two of them at the same time and the event was sexual in nature allegedly.”

But in a letter to Gallego sent Monday — which he shared in a public news release — the notoriously inactive Ethics Committee cited Gallego’s “prompt contact with the Committee following media reports of the allegations and appreciated your full cooperation with the Committee throughout the investigation.”

Gallego has maintained he was unaware of the allegations against Swalwell and said in a statement he was a victim of “right-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists like Anna Paulina Luna, the White House, and their allies.”

He continued, “I look forward to an apology from Rep. Luna for weaponizing the ethics process while refusing to investigate historic corruption that’s making life harder for families.”

Luna, in a post on X, defended her referral to the Senate Ethics Committee.

“The good news about DC is everyone talks, and eventually the reporters come forward with your texts,” Luna wrote on social media. “Do yourself a favor and keep raising for your legal defense fund. Once a creep always a creep, and you’re gonna need it.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s state. She represents Florida.

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Congress

Rubio, Witkoff to brief Congress on Iran

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9 hours ago

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June 29, 2026

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Top deputies of President Donald Trump will brief Congress on the Iran peace talks in a Monday conference call — the first time administration officials have addressed a broad group of lawmakers since Trump signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Tehran earlier this month.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, will lead the briefing for all House and Senate members at 4 p.m., according to seven people granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Republicans and Democrats have called for more transparency about the 14-point agreement inked on June 18, which initiated a cease-fire between the two countries. Since then, the U.S. and Iran have continued to engage in hostilities.

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