Congress
Capitol agenda: Jeffries takes hands-off approach to Israel
Hakeem Jeffries is signaling how he’ll handle the issue most deeply dividing his party.
In short: very carefully.
U.S. support for Israel has emerged as a major internal Democratic fault line and portends to be a stinging headache for Jeffries next year as Israel skeptic after skeptic wins the party’s primaries.
Jeffries’ unenviable position came into starker contrast last week. The minority leader barely dodged a Democratic reckoning as his party debated whether to support a Republican-led measure to cut off aid to Israel.
As Democrats wrestled with how to approach that politically thorny vote, Jeffries offered little guidance, preferring to let his members hash out their differences in a pair of hour-plus caucus meetings that several House Democrats repeatedly described as “intense.”
Last week’s meetings, four of those present said, were not intended to galvanize the caucus behind a leadership-driven position, but rather present an opportunity for members to air their perspectives. Lawmakers across the ideological spectrum said they appreciated having forums to deliberate, and many suggested it could offer a model for how the potential speaker could manage his caucus in a majority.
But some Democrats warned an agree-to-disagree posture might not always fly on sensitive issues, especially if the party takes back the House next year. If elected speaker, Jeffries could stave off some of the most politically divisive votes, but a Republican minority could still force Democrats to confront their own internal disagreements.
One progressive House Democrat who has been critical of party leaders, Rep. Delia Ramirez, said the meetings were the first caucus-wide opportunity to discuss Israel during her two terms in Congress.
“I don’t think it’s been an easy process for him as a leader,” Ramirez said about Jeffries. “But I do appreciate that he’s open for us to have a real dialogue, and that he hasn’t in any way suppressed the voices of the people there. He’s been really intentional about listening.”
Jeffries told members he plans to give more specific guidance once the House returns and a vote on the appropriations amendment is confirmed, but that might not be for a while. The measure, from Rep. Thomas Massie, was poised for a vote last week until unrelated Republican dysfunction delayed consideration indefinitely.
In the meantime, Jeffries declined to state his position on the measure, which is unlikely to garner enough Republican support to be adopted.
“There’s a lot that needs to happen differently to get to a place where there’s a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and we all need to focus on actually achieving a two-state solution once and for all,” Jeffries said in response to a question from Blue Light News last week.
But Jeffries has hinted a bit more to his caucus where he would ultimately land on the amendment. In one of the meetings, Jeffries read a statement opposing the amendment from the left-leaning pro-Israel group J Street, according to a person in the room granted anonymity to discuss the private remarks.
What else we’re watching:
— JOHNSON WANTS TO MAKE SAVE AMERICA ‘IRRESISTABLE’ TO GOP: Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to reset his strategy to enact the SAVE America Act after an intraparty feud over the bill shut down his chamber last week. In a “Fox News Sunday” interview, Johnson pushed back on hard-liners’ protest of his proposal to meet their demands on the measure. He reiterated his desire to include the legislation in a party-line reconciliation bill. And he stated President Donald Trump will accept a version of the election security bill that doesn’t crack down on mail-in voting — an issue that threatens to cost the measure Republican support.
— WHO WANTS TO BE A TOP HILL TAX WRITER? — Lawmakers are jockeying for open seats on Congress’ powerful tax writing committees, as exits by several members in both parties next year deplete ranks. At least three Democrats and four Republicans on House Ways and Means are leaving at the end of the year. Across the Capitol, five Republicans and one Democrat plan to depart Senate Finance. Members on both panels hold sway over major party priorities, like last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Emilio Perez Ibarguen and Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley rescheduled a planned vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general late Friday in a preemptive move as negotiations between the Trump administration and GOP holdouts continue.
The vote, now set for Tuesday after a scheduled Thursday vote was postponed, isn’t an indication that a deal allowing for Blanche’s confirmation is near, so much as it is a nod to Judiciary Committee rules that require three days of notice for a panel meeting.
There is no sign that President Donald Trump is about to acquiesce to the unflinching demands of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who wants a controversial settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS substantially pared back.
Cornyn, who lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate, wants the Justice Department to nullify a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and limit the scope of a tax audit immunity component of the pact.
Trump told reporters earlier Friday the fund is “dead” but added “I wish it weren’t.”
“I’d like to see them compensated,” he added, referring to people he considers victims of government abuse, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
To advance Tuesday, Blanche needs to pick up Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another senator on the panel with similar concerns. He can’t lose any GOP votes if he wants to be reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee.
“Chairman Grassley wants Todd Blanche’s nomination to be successful,” said a Judiciary Committee spokesperson, who declined to be named. “Noticing the markup gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee. Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess as he has an excellent record restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is zeroing in on one of House Republicans’ biggest contests — a purple district in Nebraska — when he starts his recess campaign sprint.
Scalise will travel to Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the Omaha area for an event with Republican Brinker Harding in the coming days, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to share plans not yet made public. Republicans are digging in to defend the seat, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential race and is among Democrats’ best pick up opportunities this fall as they seek to flip the House.
Harding is running against Democratic consultant Denise Powell to replace retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon. Bacon, a moderate-leaning Republican, flipped the Omaha district red in 2016.
After Nebraska, Scalise is planning to travel across the country throughout August, including to defend GOP incumbents Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ and Zach Nunn’s key battleground seats in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.
He’ll boost candidates working to flip blue districts like Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District and Mike LiPetri in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Scalise also plans to travel to Michigan, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas for campaign events over the August recess.
President Donald Trump goaded John Cornyn on social media Friday morning, accusing the Texas senator of withholding his vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in retaliation for Trump’s central role in his political demise.
Cornyn, who lost his May primary to Texas’ scandal-ridden attorney general, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, has threatened to block Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee until the White House promises to permanently shelve its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” in writing — something Trump appears unwilling to do.
“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called “Fund,” which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Several Republicans bristled at the fund, which could have been deployed to compensate Americans who faced charges after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and which gives the president and his family audit immunity over taxes. At his July confirmation hearing, Blanche said that the fund, part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, was defunct. But the administration has been “reluctant to change” the text of the settlement, Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
Trump signaled his continued support for the Jan 6 rioters on Friday.
“I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!” he wrote. “Millions of people agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate, and so did John Cornyn, until he lost his Election to an opponent that I Endorsed.”
On Thursday, the president suggested that he could punt a Senate vote on Blanche until after Cornyn — and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — leaves the chamber at the end of the year. Cornyn, however, suggested on social media that there are other Republican senators with concerns about the fund.
“After the midterms, who knows who’s going to be the next United States senator from North Carolina or Texas?” Cornyn told reporters.
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