Congress

Capitol agenda: Johnson notches wins, but chaos looms

Published

2 months ago

April 30, 2026

Speaker Mike Johnson may have squeezed out a pair of legislative wins Wednesday, but his headaches are far from over as the legislative deals made now face snarls in the Senate.

After a chaotic, all-day vote series on the House floor, lawmakers approved a budget framework setting up a path to fund immigration enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for more than two months. They also passed a three-year extension of government spy powers known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Here’s where those measures now stand, as well as the farm bill that still remains on the House’s agenda as lawmakers try to wrap up before a weeklong recess:

— DHS FUNDING: House Republicans unlocked the first step to a party-line process to fund immigration enforcement after a debate-saturated five-hour long vote late Wednesday.

The question now is whether GOP leaders will attempt to clear a Senate-passed bill funding the rest of DHS Thursday under expedited procedure, as the measure is expected to pass with bipartisan support. GOP leaders earlier this week set up the procedural path that would allow the fast-tracked method of voting Thursday, but their plan is still unclear.

“I don’t trust anything right now. I have no idea what’s gonna pass. It’s so weird,” Republican Rep. Mike Simpson said about the Senate-passed DHS funding bill.

— FISA FIGHT AHEAD: After weeks of infighting, House members finally passed a three-year FISA reauthorization coupled with language to permanently ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital currency. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has already publicly warned Johnson that that currency provision garnered the measure “dead on arrival” across the Capitol.

Thune said Wednesday night Senate GOP leaders were preparing their own 45 day punt of the spy law, which is due to expire Thursday night, putting the new deadline in mid-June. But that plan faces some Democratic opposition, and Thune will need buy-in from all 100 senators to schedule an immediate vote and send the measure back to the House with just hours before the law expires.

— FARM BILL FIASCO: GOP leaders aim to vote on the farm bill and amendments to the measure Thursday after starting debate late Wednesday night.

Much of Wednesday was consumed by intraparty battles over the Johnson-backed plan to attach language to the bill allowing for the year-round sale of E15 ethanol-gasoline blend. But after hours of debate, a side agreement emerged that would involve decoupling the ethanol provision from the farm bill when the House returns from recess in May — and holding a standalone vote allowing E15 year-round sales, six people tell Blue Light News.

Notably, Johnson and GOP leaders told Republican hard-liners Wednesday their protests against the bill were unnecessary, as the House version of the farm bill is expected to stall in the Senate, according to four other people involved in the talks.

What else we’re watching:

—MAXWELL’S EX-BOYFRIEND ON Blue Light News: Ted Waitt, the businessman and philanthropist who brought Ghislaine Maxwell to Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, is set to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday. He could provide key details about the only convicted co-conspirator in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme, Maxwell, who was also once Waitt’s romantic partner.

— TILLIS NOT DONE WITH TRUMP NOMINEES: Sen. Thom Tillis is urging those around the president to take his latest ultimatum seriously — that he won’t confirm for attorney general anyone who excuses the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Tillis has major leverage as a member of the Judiciary Committee, where Republicans have a one-vote advantage and he can exercise an effective veto.

Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.

Congress

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

Published

2 days 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

2 days 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

2 days 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.”