Congress

Capitol agenda: Graham’s legacy faces uncertain future

Published

33 minutes ago

July 28, 2026

Allies to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham will be trying to cement his legacy Tuesday — in public ceremonies, closed-door meetings and with a Senate vote.

Two days of memorial services for Graham begin with a 10 a.m. Capitol Rotunda ceremony, followed by 2 p.m. services at the Washington National Cathedral. Bipartisan senators will attend along with President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Services continue Wednesday at South Carolina’s First Baptist Church of Columbia where Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn will speak, according to his spokesperson, Jami LaRue.

Graham was known as an outspoken defense hawk and a champion of overseas alliances in a Republican party with a growing anti-interventionist wing. His allies will use this week to make an argument his assertive approach to American foreign policy should continue to influence the GOP.

Zelenskyy and Netanyahu — who lost in Graham a powerful Washington ally — will, for example, press officials in closed-door meetings for continued support of their respective military operations.

Zelenskyy is likely to lobby lawmakers to pass one of Graham’s biggest legislative goals: a sanctions measure aiming to pressure Russia’s oil and gas industry. He’ll address a meeting of the full Senate on Capitol Hill today and separately meet with Trump.

Senators later tonight will then take their first vote on the bipartisan legislation, formally named the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is hoping for “a very big, bipartisan vote,” and to fast-track the bill for final passage this week.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democratic co-sponsor of the bill, told reporters Monday there would be a “strong coalition of bipartisan support” for the legislation despite some Democrats’ fears about a provision allowing Trump to impose tariffs up to 100 percent on countries purchasing significant amounts of Russian oil.

Sen. Ron Wyden, meanwhile, told reporters the only way to fix the bill is getting rid of the tariffs, although he declined to say if he would oppose to fast-tracking the legislation.

The Ukrainian leader also has work to do in courting the anti-interventionalist members of the Republican Party, who have long pressed GOP leadership to cut off U.S. military and economic assistance.

Netanyahu will also meet with Trump and officials Tuesday, and he’ll be eager to remind them of Graham’s outspoken support of Israel amid growing tension between the longtime allies.

The America First wing of the GOP — a foil to Graham’s foreign policy inclinations — are concerned Netanyahu during his visit will push the president into a new, more aggressive phase of the countries’ war with Iran, Megan and Myah Ward report.

What else we’re watching:

— THUNE DEFENDS SUMMER RECESS FROM TRUMP’S DEMANDS: Thune is trying to keep Trump from ruining summer recess. Fixated on the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act, Trump is ramping up pressure on Thune and GOP senators and going after one of the most sacrosanct elements of the congressional calendar — the August recess — to try to force Republicans’ hands.

— CORNYN DETAILS LATEST DEMAND FOR BLANCHE VOTE: Sen. John Cornyn Monday said he won’t support Trump’s attorney general pick without a written modification to the tax settlement agreement Trump entered into with his own administration. Opposition from the Texas Republican could sink Todd Blanche’s nomination in a highly anticipated Judiciary vote scheduled for Thursday.

Jordain Carney and Chris Marquette contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate Democrats announce $40M ground game spend in 10 battlegrounds

Published

4 hours ago

July 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced it is spending $40 million on organizing, research and voter contact across 10 states as the party looks to take back control of the upper chamber.

The effort, branded as “Win The Senate” and shared first with Blue Light News, includes seven states where Democrats are on offense — Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska, Texas, Iowa and Florida — along with three where the party is playing defense — Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.

The funds aren’t going toward expensive ad buys, but instead on-the-ground staff, new offices, volunteer programs and outreach to groups including Latino, Black and Alaska Native voters. The organizing and infrastructure investments could help counter a potential flood of GOP super PAC cash that many Democrats expect to come later in the fall.

Democrats need to gain four seats on net to take back the Senate this year, a task that until recently seemed like a longshot. Michigan and Georgia both went for President Donald Trump in 2024, and only one of the party’s target flips — Maine — was won by former Vice President Kamala Harris To win four seats, Democrats would need at least two in states that Trump won by double digits.

The party has faced complications in bluer states, including a messy primary in Michigan and a last-minute ballot swap in Maine after embattled nominee Graham Platner dropped out of the race this month. But polling has shown close races, or even slight leads for Democratic candidates, in red states such as Iowa, Alaska and Texas.

Democrats are hopeful that voters’ dissatisfaction with Trump and the economy will propel their candidates to victory in November — and that targeting a big Senate map gives them multiple shots at flipping enough seats.

“Democrats have expanded the battleground map and created multiple pathways to win a Senate majority, thanks to strong candidate recruitment, formidable campaigns, weakened Republican opponents and a winning message that focuses on the needs and demands of working families across America who have been left behind in Republicans’ priorities,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and DSCC Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement. “Today’s announcement allows us to build on our momentum.”

Congress

Thune tries to fend off Trump’s war on the Senate recess

Published

12 hours ago

July 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump is intent on forcing an August breakthrough on his No. 1 Capitol Hill priority. John Thune has the unenviable task of trying to bring him back to reality.

Fixated on the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act, Trump is ramping up pressure on the Senate majority leader and fellow GOP senators. He’s now going after one of Congress’ most sacrosanct elements of the congressional calendar — the August recess — to try to force Republicans’ hands.

But Trump’s demand to keep lawmakers in town, delivered in a Monday morning Truth Social post, immediately won a skeptical reception from Thune and other senators who argued that holding senators hostage in Washington wouldn’t actually deliver what Trump wants. Neither the elections bill nor his bid to end the 60-vote legislative filibuster to pass it can succeed, they said, despite the president’s frequent verbal sledgehammering.

“If I thought there was a path to getting a result, I’m all for it. … But I’m still, show me how this ends,” Thune told reporters Monday about Trump’s recess cancellation demand. “If we are going to be sitting here and in endless quorum calls, I don’t know if that’s in anybody’s best interest.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger earlier this year, argued the effect could be worse than simply wasting time — that it could backfire politically with only a few months before the midterms.

“Disappointing [Trump] but also our voters 99 days before the election strikes me as a bad idea,” Cornyn said. “If you promise [voters] the sun and the moon and the aurora borealis, then you can’t accomplish it, then they’re going to be disappointed and they’re going to be more focused on us than they are Democrats.”

The issue for Trump, conservative activists and their Hill allies is that there is a quiet majority of Senate Republicans who back the SAVE America Act but also oppose eliminating the filibuster and don’t want to invite a deluge of criticism from the party base by advertising their position.

Enough Senate Republicans voted to debate the elections bill earlier this year only after leaders privately offered reassurances that it wouldn’t turn into an attempt to undo the 60-vote threshold.

Republicans are expected to discuss Trump’s push to stay in session during closed-door meetings this week, as well as his separate demand that they adopt a budget blueprint before they leave town for a $95 billion party-line spending bill that would include some election-related spending.

Party leaders are eager to get their members back home, where they can spend time on the campaign trail, where the GOP is not only facing the usual midterm headwinds for the president’s party but also muddled messaging from the White House.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of GOP leadership, predicted that it would be an “interesting” week.

Asked if she thought the math would change if the Senate stayed in town, Capito said, “I can’t predict that.”

But there’s no sign yet that either Trump or his closest allies on Capitol Hill are ready to accept that reality. Instead, they could force the Senate to hold a vote on whether or not to stay in session, which could give the party’s disgruntled base fresh ammunition to use against members of the party just months before Election Day.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said over the weekend he opposed leaving for the break, and a slew of conservative colleagues have since piled on.

“I stand ready to stay in Washington through the August recess — as long as it takes — to get the SAVE America Act passed,” Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) posted on X.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) added that “now is the time to dig in, eliminate the manufactured filibuster, and start a new Senate tradition of actually getting things done for the Constitution and the American people.”

The SAVE America fight has weighed even more directly on Thune as pressure builds on him personally.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that “patience is running out” with the Senate GOP leader. The president also urged supporters during a rally last week to call Thune directly to tell him to pass the elections bill as he revived his call to nix the filibuster.

Thune pushed back Monday, saying the Trump administration has known for months that there aren’t the votes to get rid of the 60-vote hurdle. White House officials, he said, met with about 20 GOP senators earlier this year to discuss the issue. Fifteen of the 20, he estimated, opposed moving to simple-majority passage akin to the House.

“This is not an open question,” Thune said. “It’s just a fact. And the facts don’t change. Now, if he can change the facts and start moving some of those senators who are ‘nos’ into ‘yeses’ then we have a different conversation. But that’s just the reality.”

Staff for the Senate Republican Conference, which is chaired by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), circulated internal talking points to Republican offices Monday that were obtained by Blue Light News. They encouraged senators to emphasize that they would support staying into the August recess if it would change the outcome, but it won’t.

“I don’t think staying in session will make more votes appear. … And we have work to do at home to make sure that we beat the Democrats in November,” the memo reads.

Underscoring how Trump’s tiff is threatening to overshadow the GOP’s legislative agenda ahead of the recess, the guidance also encouraged Republican senators to “reject the false choice between the President and Senate leaders: express support for both.”

It also recommended GOP senators say that Trump and Thune “are united and doing an excellent job delivering safety and prosperity for Americans, despite unprecedented Democrat obstruction.”

Congress

Cornyn wants Trump IRS settlement rewritten before voting for Blanche

Published

13 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. John Cornyn said Monday he will not support Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general absent a written modification to the settlement agreement President Donald Trump entered into with his own administration.

Opposition from the Texas Republican could sink Blanche’s nomination in a highly anticipated Judiciary Committee vote scheduled for Thursday.

While Cornyn said he is in talks with Blanche and others at the Justice Department, he has not secured changes he has demanded to the settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS. Those include formally rescinding a proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” and restricting the scope of tax audit immunity granted to the president and his family.

Cornyn told reporters he needs the document to be signed by Blanche but did not specify whether Trump also needs to sign it.

“We’re talking about that. That hasn’t been fully resolved yet,” Cornyn said in a subsequent interview when asked if Trump needs to sign the modification as well. “We’re still talking. I mean, there’s different ways to approach it.”

Time is running out for Blanche to meet Cornyn’s demands ahead of Thursday’s committee vote, where any one Republican’s opposition could be fatal to the nomination. The senator said Blanche and the administration have been so far “reluctant” to follow through.

At his nomination hearing last week, Blanche testified that plans for the payout fund were dead and that the audit agreement was more limited than set out in the settlement. But Cornyn honed in on the text of the agreement, which states that it “may be modified only with the written agreement of the Parties.”

Blanche acknowledged during the hearing that, without a written change to the agreement, the anti-weaponization fund could still be revived.

“That’s what we’re trying to get them to agree to, which is again what his sworn testimony was,” Cornyn said. “So I don’t know why they’re so reluctant to do that.”

The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.