Congress

Capitol agenda: Senate stopgap sets up fall clash with House

Published

2 hours ago

August 3, 2026

Senators Monday will take up a bipartisan funding patch measure that sets them up for a clash with House lawmakers in September.

Senate appropriators released stopgap bill text Sunday that would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions. Leaders set an initial procedural vote tonight with hopes of passing the measure before the Senate breaks for recess.

But the bill includes several rebukes of President Donald Trump, and House lawmakers will need to decide when they return in the fall whether to take up the Senate’s version or try to muscle their own version forward.

Senators are also facing an immediate deadline crunch: Leaders will need bipartisan time agreements to fast-track legislation in order to accomplish their ambitious schedule this week, including for the funding patch. The chamber’s Republicans are preparing to potentially stay in session through the weekend, two people granted anonymity to disclose private scheduling told Blue Light News.

As for differences with the House: Senate Democrats with the backing of key Republicans like Appropriations Chair Susan Collins pushed for language to block Trump from finalizing a plan to put political appointees in charge of approving grants. The prohibition would last for the duration of the funding patch.

There’s also language Democrats have demanded ensuring no new funding goes to immigration enforcement agencies, since Republicans funded those programs through a party-line package this spring.

And while it incorporates some of the funding increases and authorizations the White House sought for specific programs, the Senate bill does not contain major military boosts the administration requested, including an extra $1 billion for a “Trump-class” battleship.

The differences stem from weeks of bipartisan negotiations between Collins and top Democratic appropriator Patty Murray — unlike the House-passed funding extension which Republicans advanced without consulting Democrats.

“This measure gives Congress the time we need to continue our work on bipartisan appropriations bills, which are always my strong preference for handling annual government funding,” Collins said in a statement.

The funding legislation is GOP leaders’ top priority in a busy sprint to recess, which is expected to include votes on Russia sanctions legislation, nominations, a cryptocurrency bill and potential initial votes on a college athletics bill.

And still up in the air: Whether Majority Leader John Thune brings a budget resolution for a third party-line bill to the floor or if his right flank insists on forcing their colleagues take a vote to allow the recess to start.

What else we’re watching:

— HOUSE GOP LEADERS SILENT AMID MILLER MESS: House Republican leaders aren’t yet publicly responding to domestic and child abuse allegations against Rep. Max Miller, including weighing in on whether Miller should continue to serve or run for his seat again. Spokespeople for Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team didn’t respond to a request for comment Sunday after the allegations against Miller were complicated by a statement from his former father-in-law, Sen. Bernie Moreno, who denounced the Ohio congressman for the first time. Moreno called for him to exit the House. Moreno’s statement is the first from the senator directly weighing in on Miller ahead of the Aug. 5 deadline to put someone else on the ballot.

— BLANCHE NOMINATION BACK FROM THE DEAD: Todd Blanche is suddenly back on track to be confirmed as attorney general later this week after a late-night deal Sunday. A spokesperson for Sen. John Cornyn said just before midnight he had come to terms with the Justice Department on a deal to rein in the controversial settlement agreement Trump reached with the IRS in April. With fellow holdout Sen. Thom Tillis indicating he plans to follow Cornyn’s lead, the deal appears to pave the way for a successful Senate Judiciary vote Tuesday. That could allow for Blanche’s confirmation before the summer recess begins later in the week.

Jennifer Scholtes, Jordain Carney, Mia McCarthy, Chris Marquette and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.

Congress

Todd Blanche on track for confirmation after Cornyn strikes Trump settlement deal

Published

10 hours ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Todd Blanche took a crucial step towards confirmation as attorney general late Sunday, after Sen. John Cornyn said he had reached a deal with the Justice Department to rein in a controversial settlement agreement President Donald Trump reached with the IRS earlier this year.

The pact was announced Sunday by a Cornyn spokesperson and by Blanche in a X post. Documents posted by Blanche appear to meet the Texas Republican’s demands to nullify a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and to limit the scope of an IRS audit immunity deal applying to the president and his family.

The announcement appears to clear the way for Cornyn to approve Blanche at a scheduled Tuesday meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee. With Democrats entirely opposed, any Republican defection could be fatal to the nomination.

Senate GOP leaders are hoping to confirm Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since predecessor Pam Bondi resigned in April, before the end of the week.

“Sen. Cornyn has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice, which will be issuing a formal order permanently terminating the anti-weaponization fund and making clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the President, and the IRS,” said Natalie Yezbick, the Cornyn spokesperson.

Blanche said in the X post that he and his team “addressed any concerns or outstanding questions” senators had and issued an order that said the payout fund “is rescinded and shall have no force or effect.” It also stated that the “DOJ’s interpretation” of the settlement is that the audit deal applies only to “the named parties in the lawsuit.”

The deal emerged after a 72-hour period where Trump repeatedly attacked Cornyn and said publicly that he regretted that the fund, intended to pay out settlements to Trump political allies, had been withdrawn. He suggested Friday that he would simply withdraw Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it next year — after Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another critic of the settlement, leave Congress.

Tills, another swing vote on the Judiciary Committee, has said he plans to follow Cornyn’s lead. He said in an X post Saturday that “President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks” and that “it’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday.”

Congress

Senate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul

Published

18 hours ago

August 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate appropriators released text Sunday of a stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown come Oct. 1 and punt broader government funding negotiations until after the midterms.

Under the bipartisan plan, federal agencies would be funded through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions. Senate leaders have set an initial procedural vote for Monday night and want to pass the bill by the end of the week — just before senators are scheduled to leave town for a five-week recess.

The legislation includes language to block President Donald Trump from finalizing a plan to put political appointees in charge of approving grants. The prohibition would last for the duration of the funding patch.

Senate Democrats wanted that addition, and top Republicans — including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins of Maine and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski — publicly voiced support for blocking the regulation the White House is working to finalize for the new fiscal year.

It’s unusual for Congress to pass a funding patch so far ahead of the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. But House Republicans kicked off action last month by passing their own bare-bones funding extension to pressure senators into early negotiations on a plan to avert a funding lapse just weeks before the midterm elections.

The Senate plan is the product of bipartisan negotiations between the chamber’s top appropriators. House Republicans advanced their version without consulting Democrats.

Unlike the House version, the Senate proposal includes language Democrats have demanded ensuring no new funding goes to immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans funded those programs through a party-line package this spring after the collapse of bipartisan negotiations on changes to the way the Trump administration carries out immigration enforcement.

The Senate proposal includes some of the funding increases and authorizations the White House sought for specific programs. It does not contain major military boosts the administration requested, however, including an extra $1 billion for a “Trump-class” battleship.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Congress

Trump puts his ‘anti-weaponization fund’ back on the table

Published

2 days ago

August 1, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump said early Saturday he would push to get the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” codified into law if the Senate does not confirm his attorney general pick, Todd Blanche.

The fund has emerged as a key issue stalling Blanche’s confirmation, with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who are both departing the Senate after the midterms, withholding their support in the Senate Judiciary Committee unless the White House commits to shelving the proposal in writing.

Now, Trump says the fund is back on the table, and maybe he’ll even keep Blanche on in an acting capacity if he can’t get his way in Congress next week.

“If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill, which takes care of those who have been so badly treated by the Crooked Joe Biden (and Obuma!) Administration (I get nothing, although I was treated horribly!), PASSED,” he wrote.

“Todd Blanche was a voice of reason!” Trump wrote. “It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done.”

The missive comes a day after Trump reluctantly declared the fund “dead” in a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, making Saturday’s post a notable reversal in tactics as he moves from a negotiating posture to digging his heels in.

The fund stems from a settlement negotiated earlier this year that envisioned roughly $1.8 billion being doled out in payments to people who claimed they were unfairly targeted by the federal government during the Biden administration, which could include everyone from people who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and assaulted police officers to Hunter Biden.

The Justice Department has since indicated it does not intend to move forward with the payments, with Blanche testifying before a congressional committee in June, “We’re not moving forward with the fund, period.”

But Tillis on Saturday wrote that the president’s latest social media barb was proof that he “clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against.”

“It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal,” the two-term North Carolina senator wrote.

But he teased that a deal may not yet be out of reach: “Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday.”