Congress
Capitol agenda: GOP’s health revolt heads to the Senate
House Republicans just showed how divided they are over health care. Thursday’s Senate votes could expose the party’s strife even further.
Senate Republicans know both parties’ health care proposals are doomed Thursday. But as Democrats prepare to unite behind a three-year extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson can’t get Republicans on the same page.
— In the Senate: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is the only definite GOP defector on Thursday’s vote on a framework by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that would expand health savings accounts rather than extend the enhanced Obamacare tax credits.
But a handful of Republicans have not yet said how they would vote, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. And Florida Sen. Rick Scott — who has a competing proposal of his own — said he’s still reviewing the Crapo-Cassidy bill.
Thune is already messaging around Thursday’s near-certain failure and suggesting it’ll spur more serious negotiations.
“When we get through this exercise this week the question is, ‘Are there enough Democrats who want to fix the problem?’” he told reporters Wednesday. “I think there’s a path forward. … Obviously we don’t have a lot of time to do this, but I think there are ways in which you could, where there’s a will.”
— In the House: At least 10 Republicans on Wednesday signed a bipartisan discharge petition authored by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine) that would extend the enhanced tax credits for two years while imposing new eligibility requirements. Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) also moved Wednesday to file a discharge petition on their own proposal that would extend subsidies for a year with new guardrails.
Both efforts are direct challenges to House leaders who appear determined to let the subsidies lapse. But they would likely need all House Democrats — and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is pushing a measure to compel a vote on a three-year extension. Asked if he would support Fitzpatrick’s bill Wednesday night, Jeffries said he had not had the opportunity to look at it yet.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Blue Light News he’s “not a fan of discharge petitions,” adding that the extension framework being proposed in the Fitzpatrick-Golden bill is one of many that has split the GOP conference.
But Golden and other centrists are urging leaders not to brush off brewing discontent.
“Leadership, no matter who they are, in both parties, House and Senate, should pay attention to what’s going on with discharge petitions,” Golden said.
— From the White House: Meanwhile, lawmakers are getting mixed signals about whether President Donald Trump wants Republicans to utilize the filibuster-skirting process of reconciliation to advance a party-line package to address affordability concerns, including health care.
Asked Wednesday if he wants to see another megabill move through Blue Light News next year, Trump told reporters “we don’t need it.” But hours later, White House deputy chief of staff James Blair told Semafor the administration “would love to do” another reconciliation bill.
“That’s really a partisan tool, and then obviously there’s bipartisan pathways too,” Blair said. “Which one opens up is largely contingent on whether or not the Democrats want to work on anything.”
What else we’re watching:
— Will Cuellar get his gavel back?: Rep. Henry Cuellar’s (D-Texas) fate as an appropriations leader will be decided Thursday when House Democratic appropriators vote in a secret ballot on whether the recently-pardoned lawmaker will resume his former subcommittee chair role. Some Democrats are uneasy with allowing a colleague who’s been accused of bribery regain control over more than $60 billion in annual spending as the top Democrat overseeing Homeland Security funding.
— National Guard deployments in the spotlight: Pentagon officials will be in the hot seat during a 9:30 a.m. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Trump’s decision to send National Guard troops to cities like Washington and Los Angeles. The president has said the deployments were necessary to fight crime or crack down on protests; Democrats contend the administration is illegally wielding troops against blue cities.
Meredith Lee Hill, Mia McCarthy, Nicholas Wu and Connor O’Brien contributed to this report.
Rep. Max Miller issued a subpoena to his former father-in-law and fellow Ohio Republican, Sen. Bernie Moreno, in the latest escalation of a long-running family legal drama.
Pamela MacAdams, an attorney for Miller, reported to the Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court Monday that three subpoenas were served in Miller’s divorce case, according to court records. A person with knowledge of the subpoenas granted anonymity to comment on them said that two were sent to Moreno and his wife, Bridget.
Their daughter, Emily Moreno, was married to Miller, and the two remain embroiled in a nasty legal battle.
Spokespeople for Miller, Emily Moreno and Bernie Moreno did not immediately return requests for comment. TMZ first reported on the subpoenas.
Miller is seeking reelection in a competitive district, and his campaign has been marred by accusations of domestic abuse against Emily Moreno and their daughter. Miller has repeatedly denied the allegations and chose to remain in the race despite other Republican lawmakers pressuring him to withdraw his campaign.
The House Ethics Committee, which began an inquiry into Miller after Miller asked to be investigated, is currently in a preelection blackout period. During that period, which will continue through the midterms, the Ethics Committee doesn’t take any action against sitting members who could return next Congress.
Congress
Trump declares $1B canceled in ‘pocket rescission’ in another affront to Congress’ funding power
President Donald Trump informed congressional leaders Friday that he has unilaterally canceled almost $1 billion without Congress’ consent — employing a budget maneuver many lawmakers consider illegal.
In a move that will almost certainly set up an ugly government funding battle after the midterms, Trump has again claimed the power to execute a so-called “pocket rescission” to nix money Congress has already enacted. The money his administration will claw back is for for immigration services, support to foreign countries, education programs, health research efforts and assistance for businesses owned by minorities.
By law, the president is allowed to send Congress a request to rescind federal funding, then withhold that money for 45 days while lawmakers consider whether to approve, reject or ignore it. Trump administration officials also argue they have the power to cancel funding without any congressional action by sending Congress a rescission request with less than 45 days left in the fiscal year. The argument is that the money automatically gets canceled on Sept. 30, when funding lapses at the end of the fiscal year.
Last year, Trump canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid.
The Senate’s top Republican appropriator, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, immediately blasted the move as illegal, saying in a statement Friday night that “any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law.”
“This move shows that OMB intentionally withheld these funds for months to execute this unlawful cancellation of appropriations that were approved on a bipartisan basis and signed into law,” Collins added, pledging to work with other lawmakers “to address these illegal actions.”
Collins and other appropriators have already been on high alert in recent days, pressing multiple agencies about funding officials have yet to spend ahead of the expiration date.
Democrats are finally catching on to how to talk to young male voters in the lead-up to the midterms, but the party can still up its game, one battleground senator and potential 2028er said Friday.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) has been one of his party’s most outspoken critics on its handling of outreach to young men, who swung right and helped deliver the White House and both chambers of Congress to Republicans in 2024.
The party is now “definitely moving in the right direction,” Gallego said Friday.
“Like back in the day, I was like the only one,” putting out positions on men, Gallego said at a Washington event on young American men. “Now, like, it seems like everyone every week is coming out with a new position, new idea, which is great.”
Gallego has criticized Democrat’s failure to highlight mens’ struggles and their tendency to over-police mens’ ideas. But there are signs the political winds have shifted in his party’s favor.
A new Cygnal poll released with the event of men ages 18-30 who say they’re the most determined to vote revealed Democrats’ generic ballot lead over Republicans at 57%-40%, Blue Light News reported. The poll also said nearly 40 percent of respondents said they feel their lives are off track.
“We need to take the opportunity to invest in that portion of this country, to say that we care about them and actually try to change the trajectory of what’s happening with men in this country,” Gallego said at the symposium.
Still, the path for specific legislation targeting the needs of this demographic faces an incredibly tight calendar this Congress and is uncertain in the political landscape of next year.
A proposal from Gallego and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) to establish a men’s health office within the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, has not advanced. Nor has bipartisan legislation from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also spoke at the event, targeting education outcomes, college investment transparency and dyslexic student support.
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