Congress

Capitol agenda: Health deal hinges on Trump

Published

8 months ago

December 1, 2025

Congress is back. Welcome to the December of Hellth.

Lawmakers now have a mere 30 days to address expiring Obamacare tax credits and prevent health insurance hikes for millions of Americans. Republicans and Democrats agree success hangs on one question: Will President Donald Trump figure out what he wants?

Interpreting Trump’s intentions has gotten tougher since lawmakers left Washington. Early in the break, Trump appeared to be on the brink of announcing a framework to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies with new eligibility restrictions, only to pull back after GOP criticism. He then said he doesn’t want to extend the subsidies but understands it might be necessary.

Capitol Hill factions are trying to figure out what Trump wants and how to entice him to their side.

“The president has got to sign whatever we do, otherwise it’s a legislative exercise,” says Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, the Pennsylvania Republican who is drafting what he describes as a bipartisan proposal that would largely align with last week’s leaked White House framework.

The timeline as we know it — Though the ACA tax credits expire at month’s end, some lawmakers are looking at Jan. 30, the next shutdown deadline, as the real cutoff for a health care deal.

The Senate will vote as soon as Dec. 9 on an undefined health care proposal, the fulfillment of the bipartisan deal to re-open the government.

What’s in the works — Fitzpatrick and other centrists are looking to build bipartisan support for an extension of the subsidies with new income restrictions and other safeguards. Their efforts have loose backing from the Republican Main Street Caucus, whose chair Rep. Mike Flood (Neb.) endorsed the contours of the leaked White House health plan.

A coalition of House and Senate Republicans that includes key committee chairs are working behind the scenes on a range of possible proposals, but there’s no guarantee the GOP will fall in line or the lawmakers will produce a bill this year.

Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) says he is “working to try to find a pathway to get some bipartisan solution” — not a budget reconciliation bill.

As a fail-safe, centrist House Republicans are prepared to launch a discharge petition to force a floor vote on a subsidy extension. But they’re also trying to give space to the Senate to see if a bipartisan deal can be reached.

Democrats have yet to reach a consensus.

A group of Democrats including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Rep. Tom Suozzi (N.Y.) has been in close contact with Republicans including Fitzpatrick and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) about what could get bipartisan support. But others, including independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, want Democrats to embrace a sweeping health care plan that could be a rallying cry for the midterms but has no chance of winning GOP votes.

There’s widespread skepticism that Republicans will agree to any plan that isn’t fully endorsed by Trump. A significant swath of GOP lawmakers will simply never vote to extend anything related to Obamacare, according to three GOP aides granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics.

“That’s the trouble today,” says Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “You can have good-faith negotiations with Republicans, but it just doesn’t matter until Donald Trump weighs in.”

What else we’re watching:

— What’s next for appropriations: House GOP appropriators aren’t yet ready to advance the two biggest outstanding funding bills — Defense and Labor-HHS-Education — and are instead rooting for a cross-chamber compromise on several smaller funding measures, with sights on enactment by month’s end.

Senate Republicans are also looking for a smaller group of bills that could get signed into law as they continue to pursue a separate minibus that would pair defense funding with Labor-HHS-Education and other bills, according to two aides granted anonymity to disclose internal deliberations.

Any appropriations bills finalized in the next three weeks would be ripe for hitching to a year-end agreement on health insurance subsidies, should one materialize.

— NDAA deal incoming: Lawmakers plan to release the final text of a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act this week and tee up a House floor vote as soon as next week, though House and Senate leaders still need to sign off on the final product.

Jordain Carney, Jennifer Scholtes, Katherine Tully-McManus and Connor O’Brien contributed to this report.

Congress

Nvidia’s Huang heads to Capitol Hill for AI talks

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will meet with lawmakers in Washington to discuss American leadership on artificial intelligence, the company said Monday.

A spokesperson for the chipmaker said Huang would hold talks with both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill to talk about latest developments with the technology.

“Jensen is in DC to meet with leaders on both sides of the aisle to discuss American leadership in AI, including leading in open source,” the spokesperson said.

Huang is scheduled to sit down Tuesday with Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee who has expressed serious concern about security threats following last week’s OpenAI autonomous cyberattack.

The senator’s office confirmed the meeting. Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It comes as Huang defended open-source AI on X, writing that such models “strengthen safety and cybersecurity, accelerate innovation and diffusion, and enable sovereignty.”

Huang’s visit comes as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also expected to meet with Warner, although a spokesperson for the senator said the talks were separate. Earlier Monday, Open AI announced it was in talks with Nvidia, a technology company that makes chips to use artificial intelligence, for a data center project.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress

Texas Republican is under House Ethics investigation

Published

3 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Ethics Committee said in a statement Monday it is investigating Rep. Lance Gooden, a four-term Texas Republican.

It’s unclear what the committee is probing, but the Office of Congressional Conduct, an independent investigative branch of the House, sent over findings regarding Gooden to the committee June 10.

The Ethics panel plans to release an update on its investigation by Nov. 9. Committee representatives declined to comment beyond the statement.

In 2021, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint asking for an investigation into Gooden’s apparent failure to report his stock trades in a timely manner, which is a requirement under a federal law known as the STOCK Act. The complaint was sent to the OCC.

Congress

Congressional Black Caucus members break with Jeffries, endorse against Thanedar in Michigan House race

Published

4 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Monday broke with Democratic Party leadership to endorse Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid to primary Rep. Shri Thanedar, an unusual move given that sitting members of the same party rarely endorse against each other.

Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), the former chair of the CBC, and Lateefah Simon (Calif.) called McKinney a “fighter.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (Mich.) praised McKinney as “the only trusted candidate” in the race. And Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) touted McKinney for “never [losing] sight of the people.”

“We need Donavan in Congress,” said Pressley.

The race between McKinney and Thanedar, who was elected in 2022, is the latest battleground in the ongoing ideological clash between the Democratic establishment and its progressive flank.

McKinney is hoping to capitalize on the latest wave of progressive successes in primaries, but Thanedar retains the power of the incumbency — and the backing of House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar.

Thanedar’s 2022 election marked the first time since 1955 that the majority-Black city of Detroit didn’t have a Black lawmaker representing it in Congress. And he won two years ago only after Adam Hollier, who was viewed as his most credible primary challenger, was disqualified from the ballot.

“It’s not just about having Black representation, but that is a part of what appropriate representation looks for,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who had previously backed McKinney, told Blue Light News. “You have a majority-Black district, and I think that there is certainly an appetite to see that again, or to at least make sure that a Black candidate has the opportunity to present themselves.”

In a phone call, Thanedar emphasized that he has worked closely with members of the CBC during his time in office, noting that the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was a mentor of his and, in addition to Jeffries, he has the endorsement CBC members like Rep. Bennie Thomspon (D-Miss.).

“I am fully aware that I am representing the Blackest city in America and I’m proud of it,” Thanedar, who is Indian-American, said. “My story is like Detroit’s story — I struggled through poverty, never say die, never gave up and I have that resilience that Detroit has. The resilience of Detroit is what my life is about.”

McKinney on Monday said he was “honored” by the endorsements.

“Millions of lives across the country have been made immeasurably better because of the hard work these members have done in Congress, and I look forward to working alongside these incredible leaders to pass critical legislation to protect voting rights, get big money out of our politics, and ensure all families have access to the resources they need to not just survive, but to truly thrive,” he said in a statement.