Congress

Capitol agenda: House vs. Senate rift threatens GOP agenda

Published

5 months ago

May 11, 2026

Tensions between House and Senate Republicans are threatening the GOP’s legislative agenda ahead of the midterms.

The two chambers come back to Capitol Hill this week with a list of legislative priorities they have failed to reach consensus on — and a shrinking time frame to get it done.

Who is at fault for the standoff depends on who you ask.

“We control Washington. When … we don’t get things done, we’re making a huge mistake,” Sen. Thom Tillis said about his House counterparts. “We’ve got to deliver.”

“The House is doing its job,” Rep. Chip Roy said. “Sometimes it gets a little tense, but we’re still getting stuff done. We’re sending it over to the Senate, so we look forward to them doing their job.”

Republicans did get a few wins before the brief recess: The House passed a Senate bill to fund everything in DHS except immigration enforcement after a record-setting 76 day shutdown of the department. Johnson had initially called the bill a “crap sandwich.”

The House and Senate also managed to get on the same page about a budget blueprint for a party-line spending bill President Donald Trump wants on his desk by June 1. Congress is likely to spend most of May focusing on that deadline — especially after the Senate’s proposal included $1 billion in security funding that can be used for at least parts of Trump’s proposed White House ballroom, a project voters have shown little support for.

But other fights are coming up quickly.

Republicans bought themselves through mid-June to figure out a plan on a key government spy power reauthorization that now includes a central bank digital currency provision, which is dead-on-arrival in the Senate.

A ban on CBDC is also a key hang-up in dueling housing affordability proposals between the House and Senate, among other differences between the chambers’ plans (more on this below).

It’s a key frustration for Senate Republicans, who believe getting a housing bill to Trump’s desk would be an easy way to show voters the party is responsive to their affordability anxieties.

“Conversations continue,” House Financial Services Chair French Hill said before the recess. “We just are looking for the path to get a bicameral bill.”

What else we’re watching:

—GOP’s VIRGINIA WIN MAY MUDDLE BALLROOM TALKS: Republicans’ redistricting win in Virginia might translate into some immediate new headaches for Speaker Mike Johnson’s legislating agenda and Trump’s ballroom security plans. The state Supreme Court’s Friday decision to overturn Democrats’ redrawn maps boosts the GOP’s outlook to hold onto more seats in November’s midterms. But senior House Republicans are concerned those Virginia Republicans with a new lease on life in Congress could present challenges for the GOP’s latest party-line spending plans, four people with knowledge of the conversations told Blue Light News. Johnson must convince those members facing highly competitive races to support the reconciliation bill and pass it by Trump’s June 1 deadline. That may not be easy given a highly debated proposal setting aside $1 billion that may be spent on the White House’s ballroom security.

— HOUSING BILL’S WALL STREET PROVISIONS IN FLUX: House GOP lawmakers have drafted amended housing legislation that would reel in efforts by the Senate to limit the role of Wall Street in housing, according to text obtained by Blue Light News. It strips a much-debated Senate provision requiring single-family homes built by large institutional investors as long-term rentals be sold after seven years to individual homebuyers — which is where much of the House opposition has been focused.

Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill and Katherine Hapgood contributed to this report.

Congress

GOP senator questions Elon Musk’s influence over military assets

Published

55 minutes ago

October 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer said Thursday that he had concerns about Elon Musk’s influence over national security matters after Ukraine was blindsided by a disruption of a satellite communications service developed by Musk’s SpaceX.

“We’re putting too many eggs in one company’s basket when it comes to our space assets,” the Republican member of the Armed Services Committee said. He added about Musk that he was concerned about the power of “one individual and one company over America’s ability to protect the domain of space, which is a war-fighting domain.”

Cramer received a briefing Thursday from Air Force Secretary Troy Meink that he said focused on getting an update on Starshield — a military product based on SpaceX’s Starlink technology. Cramer told reporters before the briefing that he wanted Congress and the Pentagon to “pour a lot of resources … into making sure there’s lots of competition both for satellite production and satellite launch.” “I’m uncomfortable with the potential vendor lock in space, and I think the events of the last couple of weeks have demonstrated greater concern, even than just simply cost,” Cramer said.

Musk has been under days of scrutiny — including fresh pledges by Democrats to investigate him next year — after the Wall Street Journal reported that he ordered the recent slowdown in Starshield capabilities over the Russia-Ukraine war theater.

Cramer, asked about the Journal reporting after the closed-door briefing, said that he wasn’t sure if Musk ordered the slowdown and that the “culpability of multiple people … was left somewhat loose.”

“By that I mean, discussions with the president before, discussions with the president after. … Obviously I don’t think it could have possibly happened without Elon Musk’s knowledge, whether or not you know how supportive he was one way or the other,” Cramer said.

Cramer added that he believed there could have been a broad misunderstanding within the U.S. government and within SpaceX about how reliant Ukraine was on the satellite technology. But he said it was incumbent that the operation of satellite technology like Starshield must “be exclusively with the authority of the United States government.”

“There are certain things the government has to do that can’t be so dependent on others,” Cramer said. “And fighting wars is one of those things.”

Congress

Top Senate Finance Democrat maps out clean energy plan

Published

4 hours ago

October 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee wants to revive a clean energy tax credit program he argues was a booming success — and says he has the receipts to prove it.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon is releasing a new report of IRS data, shared first with Blue Light News, showing that, in the first two years of the Democrats’ 2022 climate law, nearly $2.5 billion in direct payments went directly to schools and other tax-exempt entities to cover electric school buses, rooftop solar, electric vehicles and more.

Wyden said in a press release the numbers prove there is “massive demand” for “any and all” programs that lower energy costs and rebuild aging infrastructure, after Republicans gutted many of these wind and solar tax credits in their tax and spending megalaw last summer.

“When Democrats have a trifecta of power, reinstating the wind and solar tax credits and bolstering the Direct Pay Program will be a top priority to help bring an end to Trump’s energy crisis,” said Wyden, who is poised to take back the Finance gavel if control of the Senate flips in the midterms.

The report, prepared by Democratic staff for the committee, argues the current “energy crisis,” where Americans’ utility bills are rising, was manufactured by Republicans and the direct result of the Trump administration’s clean energy incentive rollbacks.

Wyden said he would revive the solar and wind tax credits if given the chance to chair the Finance Committee again, plus boost what’s known as the Direct Pay Program, which schools and tax exempt entities can use on rooftop solar, electric vehicle purchases, heat pumps and more.

“If we’re back in the majority — and I think we will — I will be introducing that bill [to restore] the clean energy tax credits that had billions of dollars in the market in the first couple of years,” Wyden said in an interview last month regarding his plans. “I’ll be introducing that right away.”

Wyden, who has led his party on the Finance Committee since 2015, wrote the bulk of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act’s climate and clean energy provisions.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Some Republicans get bipartisan curious

Published

5 hours ago

October 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Facing a blue wave, Republicans have found bipartisanship.

A new Blue Light News poll shows that 66% of Republican voters this midterm want a Democratic House to find common ground with President Donald Trump to pass legislation next year, assuming the party flips that chamber in November.

Democrats don’t seem sold on the unity vibe. Almost the same percentage of Democratic voters want their party to block Trump and GOP proposals they disagree with, even if that means fewer bills get passed.

The GOP’s team-player spirit is also showing up in Republicans’ campaign messaging too — far more than in previous cycles.

Across all House and Senate races, GOP candidates or outside groups backing them have run nearly 200 ads that mention bipartisanship, working across the aisle or “both sides,” according to a Blue Light News analysis of AdImpact data. That’s up more than 60% from 2024.

An ad from Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers says he’ll “bring both parties together” to lower prices. Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn told voters in an ad he is “one of the most bipartisan members of Congress.” And Arkansas Rep. French Hill is touting how the housing law he backed “passed with bipartisan support.”

The focus is a notable change from 2024. Back then, GOP candidates and groups ran more than 90 ads that promised to “stop Biden” or “stop Democrats.” That rhetoric is all but gone from GOP ads now.

Still, it remains to be seen if GOP lawmakers elected in November can collaborate with the different factions of the Democratic party that may be more — or less — willing to reach across the aisle.

Seventy-one percent of progressive voters, for example, indicated they would prefer Trump obstruction over finding common ground, compared to 57% of moderates, according to the polling. Progressives were also more likely to say Democrats’ highest priority if they retake the House should be doing everything they can to block Republicans’ agenda.

The one exception for Dems: affordability. Fifty-seven percent of Democratic midterm voters indicated they’d prefer the party do whatever it takes to pass legislation lowering the cost of living, even if it’d give the GOP a win — including 56% of progressive voters and 58% of moderates.

What else we’re watching:

— DEMS’ TREASURY TARGETS — Democrats are readying for a showdown with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent if they take back power in November. The Democrats who would lead the committees overseeing the Treasury Department and IRS are preparing to investigate Trump’s alleged self-enrichment schemes and efforts to dismantle regulatory agencies, according to people with direct knowledge of Democrats’ plans granted anonymity to describe them.

— WYDEN’S CLEAN ENERGY PLAN — Sen. Ron Wyden wants to bring back a clean energy tax credit program he says new data proves was wildly successful in helping keep down Americans’ energy expenses. The top Democrat on Senate Finance is releasing a report of IRS data, shared first with Blue Light News, showing $2.5 billion in direct payments made in the first two years of the Democrats’ 2022 climate law to cover electric school buses, rooftop solar, electric vehicles and more. Wyden said he would revive the solar and wind tax credits if given the chance to chair the panel again, plus boost what’s known as the Direct Pay Program, which schools and tax exempt entities can use on clean energy infrastructure.

Jessica Piper, Danny Nguyen, Michael Stratford and Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.