Congress

Capitol agenda: House eyes summer for another party-line bill

Published

2 months ago

May 13, 2026

House Republicans are aiming to finish before August another party-line bill that they hope will persuade voters to keep them in power in midterm elections.

House GOP leaders and a group of GOP members in closed-door meetings Tuesday discussed passing a third reconciliation bill by the end of July, five people with direct knowledge of the conversations told Blue Light News. The third party-line bill would be in addition to the current immigration enforcement spending bill moving through the Senate.

Speaker Mike Johnson told Blue Light News as he left the House floor Tuesday “I do” think Republicans can meet that timeline. Rep. August Pfluger, who has pushed for the additional party-line bill as chair of the Republican Study Committee, said he was optimistic it could be done.

“We have achieved every objective and goal that we set out to do,” he told Blue Light News. “And we will achieve this one as well.”

Plenty of obstacles stand in the path to their plan. One senior Republican noted there are just over 30 legislative days that the House is in session before summer recess, which begins July 23.

Both chambers would also have to approve an identical budget resolution, meaning the fractious House and Senate would have to agree on broad outlines for the bill — a process that took months during last year’s drafting of the GOP’s megabill.

The party also has yet to finalize its second reconciliation bill focused on immigration enforcement. The legislation has become mired in debate over a provision that could allow up to $1 billion in spending for the Secret Service and security for President Donald Trump’s ballroom project, which polls show is deeply unpopular with voters.

That ballroom spending debate has only added to calls from members saying the party needs to do more to address cost-of-living matters before voters go to the polls in the fall.

Some members argue Republicans have struggled to sell to the public the “big, beautiful bill” they passed last year. And more recently, House and Senate Republicans are facing divisions over a gas-tax holiday being demanded by Trump, not to mention housing and energy permitting bills that have stalled for months.

That set of overlapping internal battles — and rising inflation numbers — are underscoring the party’s political peril. Another reconciliation bill, which Republicans can pass without Democratic support, is seen as crucial to efforts to show voters they can deliver affordability solutions.

“Well, do we pass it? Or do we try?” Sen. Rick Scott said. “I know we’re going to try.”

What else we’re watching:

— GOP LEADERS LUKEWARM ON GAS TAX HOLIDAY: Trump’s plan to suspend the federal gasoline tax is getting a reality check from GOP leaders wary of taking a political gamble with relatively little payoff for Americans at the pump. A day after Trump’s call to action and more than two months into a Middle East war that has caused fuel prices to surge, congressional leaders were not throwing any weight behind legislative proposals, preferring instead to wait and see whether Trump will make a more direct appeal to Congress.

— WARSH POISED FOR RECORD LOW BIPARTISAN SUPPORT: The Senate’s vote Wednesday on Kevin Warsh’s nomination to lead the Federal Reserve is poised to be the most partisan of any Fed chair ever. While some Democrats say they were impressed with Warsh in their private meetings, few are expected to back him, largely because they think he’s doing Trump’s bidding.

Meredith Lee Hill, Kelsey Brugger, Jordain Carney, Andres Picon, Pavan Acharya, Amelia Davidson, Jasper Goodman and Sam Sutton contributed to this report.

Congress

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

Published

10 hours 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

18 hours 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

21 hours 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.”