Congress

Capitol agenda: Republicans prepare DHS punt

Published

9 months ago

February 9, 2026

With fewer than five days to go before a DHS shutdown, Senate Democrats have put bill text for a full-year funding compromise on the table. But another punt is probably still the best-case scenario, and it’s by no means guaranteed.

— What Democrats are pitching: The draft legislation Democrats sent Republicans Sunday would codify the immigration enforcement guardrails outlined by Democratic leaders last week, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the plans. They include new judicial warrant requirements and limits on masking by federal agents.

— Republicans review and prepare for CR: While getting bill text is generally a good thing for the process, after Republicans complained publicly into the weekend about the lack of specifics from Democrats, it hasn’t changed the endgame for this week. Republicans and the White House view some of the ideas as possible areas for negotiation, but it’s just highly unlikely all sides agree to a full-year DHS revamp by Friday at midnight.

Senate Republicans expect to begin taking procedural steps Monday to set up consideration of a DHS funding patch. Senate aides still hope there’s a way to prevent a DHS shutdown, and progress on negotiations could dictate how easy it is to get bipartisan buy-in for another CR. Most Democrats will be reluctant to punt.

— Shutdown still looks likely: Unless the Senate does the unexpected and clears a new CR for DHS by Wednesday, there probably won’t be enough time for the House to follow suit before the shutdown deadline. House GOP leaders have no plans to cancel next week’s recess absent clearer proof of progress in the Senate, meaning a DHS shutdown could take even longer to resolve.

What else we’re watching:

— Ghislaine Maxwell deposition: The House Oversight Committee will depose Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell virtually at 10 a.m. Monday. Maxwell is expected to invoke the Fifth Amendment and be uncooperative with questioning. House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) will be reviewing unredacted Epstein files, according to a spokesperson. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) will review the files as well.

— House moves on housing package: The House is expected to swiftly pass a sweeping, bipartisan housing supply bill from the Financial Services Committee on Monday afternoon. After that, it’s unclear how the House and Senate will come together on one of the country’s most urgent cost-of-living problems.

— DC tax bill advances: Senate Republicans are expected to act early this week to pass a measure that would force the District of Columbia to implement GOP tax cuts. The bill, which the House passed along party lines last week, would block a November D.C. budget law that tossed aside tax provisions from last year’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

Jordain Carney, Hailey Fuchs and Cassandra Dumay contributed to this report.

Congress

Robert Garcia makes Oversight chair bid official

Published

11 minutes ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, formally announced his bid to chair the powerful investigative panel in a letter to colleagues on Thursday.

The California Democrat, who this week issued a wide message for the Trump administration and other oversight targets to “lawyer up,” made the case for his leadership by promising to hold power to account, take on corruption and lower costs for Americans.

“Accountability and affordability go hand in hand. When the government is corrupted for personal gain over the public interest, Americans lose trust and taxpayer dollars are wasted,” Garcia wrote. “Our Committee must expose that corruption, protect the public, and help deliver a government that works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected.”

Garcia has said he wants to probe the federal contracts awarded to members of President Donald Trump’s family; the series of pardons Trump granted early in his second term; cryptocurrency-related profits collected by the president; and Trump’s acquisition of a Qatari 747 jet to serve as an interim Air Force One.

He also plans to ramp up the House investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as well as those who facilitated his crimes.

Garcia has signaled he intends to investigate Trump’s inner sanctum as well, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief Stephen Miller, along with Trump’s son-in-law and foreign envoy Jared Kushner. He has mentioned Corey Lewandowski — along with Lewandowski’s old boss, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as ripe targets for inquiry over allegations of a pay-to-play scheme.

“I love this country,” Garcia said over the summer in describing how he sees his role in bringing “accountability” to the executive branch. “It’s sad to me what government, what the Congress, what the president, has done to it.”

Congress

Pete Aguilar announces run for whip

Published

56 minutes ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar has formally announced his bid for House majority whip.

“With a Democratic majority, we’ll have the tools to rein in this out-of-control administration and investigate the agencies, officials and corporations that have been making life harder and more expensive for our communities,” the California Democrat wrote in a letter to colleagues Thursday. “I look forward to working with each of you to deliver on our affordability agenda.”

Aguilar is currently unopposed for the No. 3 slot in the new House Democratic majority.

As whip, Aguilar will have to stitch together an ideologically diverse caucus that could be as large as 260 members. With such a significant margin, Aguilar would have more cushion to lose votes on key legislation than Republican leaders, who have struggled to wrangle their members on party-line bills over the last two years.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts have already announced their candidacies for speaker and majority leader, respectively. They also have no challengers at this time.

Congress

Top House Republican: Trump ‘unfavorability’ led to losses

Published

1 hour ago

November 5, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. French Hill, a senior Republican who barely won reelection in Little Rock this week, said President Donald Trump’s “unfavorability” is to blame for sweeping GOP losses.

The Associated Press called the race for Hill on Thursday after the six-term lawmaker and House Financial Services Committee chair faced off against Democrat Chris Jones. Hill won by less than 2 percentage points.

“President Trump’s unfavorability had a lot of impact on races across the country,” Hill said in an interview. “I think that’s evident by some of the exit polling. We had, in my judgment, recruited good candidates who had good funding for their campaigns. But it was a wave election, and we lost a lot of really good, constructive members of the House.”

It was the closest race yet for Hill, who struggled to win even as he outspent Jones, a former Arkansas gubernatorial candidate, 3 to 1. As House Financial Services chair, Hill has been instrumental the last two years in enacting bipartisan housing and cryptocurrency legislation.

During the campaign, Hill was willing to distance himself from Trump, especially when it came to touting the housing bill that the president refused to sign.

In the interview Wednesday, Hill suggested that Republicans could break further with Trump during the final two years of his term.

“He will be considered a lame duck, and that often has members of both political parties looking out at who will be the standard-bearers in the 2028 presidential election,” he said. “So, I think certainly that will influence policymaking and politics inside the House and Senate.”