Congress

Capitol agenda: Thune’s biggest megabill fires

Published

1 year ago

June 17, 2025

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has some “big, beautiful” conflicts to resolve — and fast — if he wants to pass his party’s tax-and-spending package next week as planned.

Here’s a look at the biggest fires Thune needs to put out to meet his deadline, some of which are newly raging following Senate Finance’s release of long-awaited bill text:

MEDICAID JITTERS — “Medicaid moderates” are reeling after Republicans on the key committee proposed lowering the provider tax,from 6 percent to 3.5 percent by 2031 for states that have expanded Medicaid offerings under the Affordable Care Act. Several states rely heavily on this tax to help fund their Medicaid programs.

Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), were already rebelling against the House-passed megabill’s move to find savings by freezing the provider tax. Now, Hawley is saying he’s “alarmed” that Senate Finance would go even further and that the plan “needs work.”

“I don’t know why we would defund rural hospitals in order to pay for Chinese solar panels,” he told reporters Monday evening, in a nod to Senate Republicans’ plan to ease some of the House GOP’s deep cuts to clean-energy tax credits (more on that below).

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also expressed concern about the provider-tax change, though she declined to elaborate as she left the closed-door meeting Monday night where Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) was briefing GOP senators on his proposal. But Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said he doesn’t think the plan would go far enough in slashing spending on the safety-net program, suggesting senators should reconsider including a provision that would scale back the federal government’s share of paying for states’ Medicaid expansion.

Expect this to be a topic of discussion when GOP senators meet with CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz Tuesday during the conference’s weekly lunch.

HOLD THE SALT — Blue-state House Republicans are seething as senators continue to haggle down their state-and-local-tax deduction cap. GOP senators included the current $10,000 deduction limit — rather than the $40,000 the House passed — as a placeholder in the draft bill text Senate Finance released Monday, giving space for talks to continue.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) declared the Senate’s proposal “dead on arrival” in the House. But Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who’s been backchanneling with SALT Republicans including Lawler, insisted to reporters that the deduction is “fully open for negotiating.” Thune also told reporters Monday that senators are “prepared to have discussions” amongst themselves to “figure out a landing spot.”

LESS GUTTING FOR GREEN CREDITS — Senate Republicans are extending some of the House’s aggressive phase-out dates for credits benefitting “baseload” energy technologies like nuclear, geothermal and hydropower, leaving one GOP proponent of the incentives, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), “generally satisfied.” They are still making significant cuts to solar, wind and electric vehicle incentives in Democrats’ 2022 climate law, but that’s not going to satisfy conservatives who want a full repeal of what they call the “Green New Scam.”

House Freedom Caucus members, who pushed for deep cuts to the green credits in order to get behind the megabill in their chamber last month, could fight the Senate’s slower roll. One member, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), declared on X he “will not vote for this.”

Dive deeper into the long list of other Senate Finance megabill changes.

What else we’re watching:

— Lawmaker safety after Minnesota shootings: Senators have a classified security briefing with the chamber’s sergeant at arms and Capitol Police this morning, where the question of resources for lawmaker safety could come up. Across the Capitol, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is asking Speaker Mike Johnson to increase funding for members’ security as more elected officials learn they were potential targets of the man suspected of the shootings in Minnesota.

— Senate’s first major crypto overhaul: The Senate is set this afternoon to pass landmark cryptocurrency legislation, one of Trump’s biggest policy priorities outside the megabill. The bipartisan bill would create a regulatory framework for digital tokens known as stablecoins that are pegged to the value of the dollar. But the legislation faces a murky future in the House.

— Gabbard, Ratcliffe on Blue Light News: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and NSA acting Director Lt. Gen. William Hartman will testify on behalf of the president’s fiscal 2026 budget request for intelligence during a closed Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

Jordain Carney, Brian Faler and Jasper Goodman contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate confirms Blanche as attorney general

Published

2 days ago

August 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate Saturday confirmed Todd Blanche to be attorney general, following a weeks-long struggle with a handful of wary Republicans.

The Senate voted 50-49 to approve him, with GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining with Democrats in opposition.

Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, has been serving as acting attorney general since Pam Bondi’s ouster in April. Questions about Blanche’s potential conflicts of interest from representing Trump, as well as his role in the creation of a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of Trump’s settlement this spring with the IRS, created headwinds to his confirmation among a key group of Senate Republicans.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who lost re-election after Trump endorsed a primary challenger, helped Blanche clinch his 50th vote Friday. He said Blanche wasn’t perfect but that he wasn’t sure Trump would pick someone better to lead the Justice Department.

“The choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche,” Cassidy said on the Senate floor. “It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.”

Cassidy’s support came after Blanche had already spent weeks negotiating with Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, who vetted his nomination as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cornyn struck an agreement with Blanche Sunday for the DOJ to curtail the payout fund and rein in a deal to exempt Trump from IRS audits.

Cassidy’s support came hours after Murkowski announced that she would oppose Blanche’s nomination, putting it on the brink of potential failure. Between unified opposition from Democrats and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s absence for health reasons, Blanche could only lose two Republicans and still be confirmed.

Hours before Friday’s vote, Murkowski told reporters she spoke with Blanche multiple times but that she was “good with where I am.” She said there was no “one” thing that motivated her decision.

“If there was one thing, we might be able to go back to the White House and say ‘Hey, can we work on this one thing,’” she said. “But for me it was a compilation.”

She added that she believed the anti-weaponization fund is “pretty dead” but “what is not so clear” are the audit immunity provisions of Trump’s IRS agreement, “which I just think are viewed by so many in this country as kind of a special and sweet deal for the president and his family.”

Congress

Senate passes funding bill to avert October shutdown

Published

2 days ago

August 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate passed a bill Saturday to fund the government beyond the midterm elections, putting the onus back on the House to head off a shutdown looming Oct. 1.

The Senate approved the measure in a bipartisan 90-6 vote, with Sen. Darline Graham of South Carolina voting present. The bill would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions. Senate leaders sped up consideration of the legislation as part of an agreement reached Saturday morning to allow members to leave for August recess.

The House and Senate have now each passed different bills aimed at averting a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year. The House bill would fund the government through Dec. 4.

The Senate legislation sets up a year-end standoff over the Trump administration’s controversial plan to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants. The bill would block the administration from finalizing that rule during the length of the stopgap — and lawmakers are already expecting a December brawl over the issue.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said this week that he’s going to “fight like hell” in December to ensure Congress doesn’t further obstruct the grant overhaul.

But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are resistant to the White House approach to grants. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she will “continue to oppose” the Trump administration plans “because I think they politicize the grants process, and I don’t want that to occur.” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on Senate Appropriations, said she too would “welcome the fight.”

The Senate rejected an amendment from Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) intended to ensure that a ban on intoxicating hemp products kicks in come November, after Senate leaders at the White House’s urging included language in the funding bill to delay it.

The Senate bill includes language Democrats sought to ensure Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol don’t get any new funding under the patch. Republicans enacted $70 billion for those agencies along party lines earlier this year.

That prohibition could be contentious in the House.

Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.) said in an interview that the provision “could be a dealbreaker” and that he’s “not a fan” of the Senate version. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said Tuesday that he would say he’s undecided if GOP leadership whipped his vote on the Senate stopgap.

“I do not like the Senate language,” Van Drew said, noting the grant approval provision. “It’s one I would want to know what the president thinks.”

The White House issued a statement of administration policy in support of the Senate’s funding bill. No such memo was issued for the House bill, which did not include the funding increases and authorizations the White House requested.

“Every Member of Congress should support passage of this [continuing resolution] to keep the Government open as discussions on full year appropriations continue,” it reads.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democratic appropriator in the House, praised the Senate measure for including the grant and immigration enforcement language.

“This bill is a clear improvement over the House Republican continuing resolution, but we are still nearly two months away from the end of the fiscal year and should be working together to pass full-year funding bills,” she said in a statement.

Mia McCarthy and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate eyes the exit after GOP-Trump deal

Published

2 days ago

August 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate is aiming to leave Washington for a five-week recess early Saturday after Republicans cut a deal with President Donald Trump to punt some of their priorities, including a framework for a party-line spending plan.

The Senate is trying to lock in an agreement that would set up votes on a college sports bill, a stopgap government funding bill, Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination and GOP voter ID legislation, according to a copy of an internal notice reviewed by Blue Light News.

The Senate would then leave Washington until mid-September.

Any one senator could object to the tentative deal, forcing it to be altered or dragging the Senate deeper into the weekend. Senators believe there are still objections to advancing the college sports bill. Democrats are also waiting to see if one of their own will prevent speeding up Blanche’s confirmation.

The breakthrough is a U-turn from earlier Friday evening, when Republican senators emerged from a closed-door meeting predicting they would have to spend Saturday trying to break a stalemate within the party about how to wrap final votes before recess.

Shortly after that meeting, Trump spoke by phone with Senate Republicans including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah about the path forward for the GOP’s lengthy to-do list.

During the call, according to Johnson, Trump agreed to punt a vote on a budget blueprint for a third party-line spending bill until later in the year. Lee, who has been pushing for action on the separate SAVE America Act, also agreed to drop his demand for a formal, roll call vote on adjourning given the understanding with the president.

“I think the conclusion of the conference – and we had a discussion with the president and he agrees – [is] don’t take the vote tonight,” Johnson said after the meeting in Thune’s office.

Republicans were in talks with the White House throughout Friday. A White House official granted anonymity said Friday evening that “we’re continuing to have productive conversations with senators to advance several legislative priorities.”