Congress

Capitol agenda: Thune’s megabill teeters on the brink

Published

1 year ago

June 26, 2025

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is scrambling to quell the Medicaid-fueled mutiny that’s threatening to derail the megabill on both sides of the Capitol.

In the Senate, “Medicaid moderates” are rejecting Finance’s opening offer of $15 billion for a stabilization fund for rural hospitals to help offset paring back the provider tax in expansion states from 6 percent to 3.5 percent.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called it “inadequate” and warned that even if leadership goes up to the $100 billion she’s seeking, “that doesn’t solve” her issues with the bill. Thune closed the door to $100 billion soon after.

Multiple senators are threatening they won’t vote to open floor debate on the megabill without more clarity on Medicaid changes. That includes Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who warned colleagues behind closed doors Wednesday that “you won’t have a member from North Carolina sitting at this table after next year” unless the Senate changes course, Jordain scooped. (Reminder, fellow North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd isn’t up for reelection until 2028.)

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) later posted on X that he spoke with Donald Trump and the president wants the Senate to “stay with the House” on Medicaid. Look for whether Trump issues further instructions Thursday: Several GOP senators are expected to head to the White House for a 4 p.m. event to tout the “big, beautiful bill.”

Over in the House, wary moderates are also rejecting the rural hospital fund; one told Blue Light News it’s “bullshit.”

Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to calm nervous members by telling them he expects the Senate Medicaid language will move closer to the House’s. House GOP leaders and moderates believe the provider tax will end up between 4 percent and 5 percent, according to four people granted anonymity to describe private conversations. Some House Republicans are prepared to swallow that. Others are protesting.

Those numbers aren’t currently under serious consideration in the Senate, two people granted anonymity to describe the talks told Blue Light News, where there’s general skepticism that rank-and-file Republicans across the Capitol have a good read on the negotiations. (Johnson and Thune are in close contact, though; the Senate leader stepped out of Wednesday’s lunch on the phone with his House counterpart.)

But a Senate shift could end up happening if Thune’s members force his hand. Asked Wednesday about softening the provider-tax language, Thune didn’t completely close the door. “This all comes down to what the traffic will bear,” he told Blue Light News.

Other outstanding megabill issues:

— Feeling less salty?: Blue-state House Republicans expected to receive two options in writing for a potential deal on the state and local tax deduction. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said the SALT Republicans’ Wednesday meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) involved a “productive conversation.”

— Public-lands push and pull: Blue Light News obtained Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) scaled-back plan to sell off millions of acres in public lands, which he’s shipped off to the parliamentarian for review. It could still face GOP pushback.

— Inside RonJohn’s White House talks: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told Blue Light News the White House is working with him to establish a budget review panel through reconciliation. He’s not a “yes” on the megabill yet, though.

What else we’re watching:

— Iran briefing: Senators will huddle at 2 p.m. for their rescheduled briefing on the Iran conflict. As of late Wednesday night, the potential speaker list included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine, but Senate aides cautioned the list could change.

— Leg Branch markup: House appropriators will mark up the Legislative Branch funding bill Thursday — and there is a lot they want to see changed on Capitol Hill, according to their committee report released Wednesday. The panel had thoughts on member security, designated parking spaces, food service that accommodates more allergies and celiac disease, elevator outages and dome tours ahead of Thursday’s markup.

James Bikales, Josh Siegel and Katherine Tully McManus contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate confirms Blanche as attorney general

Published

1 day 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

1 day 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.”