Congress
Capitol agenda: ‘Trump dividend’ wins instant GOP critics
President Donald Trump dropped a hot mess of a half-baked midterm promise in lawmakers’ laps Wednesday night.
Trump at the GOP’s convention pledged to send $5,000 to every adult in the U.S. if Republicans retain control of Congress in the midterms. And while the crowd of thousands of his supporters gathered at Dallas’ American Airlines Center cheered the announcement, GOP fiscal hawks were balking at the effort before Trump even left the stage.
“I would like to know how they would plan to pay for … back of envelope … well over $1 trillion,” Rep. Chip Roy, who won’t be returning to Congress next year, said in response to Trump’s offer.
The payout, which would need to be approved by Congress, would dwarf the amount distributed during the Covid pandemic and likely explode the deficit. Trump did not detail how the checks would be financed — only that the money would be limited to citizens and required to be spent in the U.S.
A GOP operative, granted anonymity to discuss the idea, expressed skepticism, calling it “a desperate attempt to change the political mood.”
If the president followed through on such a plan, it would likely worsen inflation by further boosting consumer spending and supporting higher prices, which are already elevated due to the war in Iran. The dividend could also exacerbate a rise in longer-term borrowing costs for the U.S. government, which have been going up in part on fears the federal debt is growing unsustainable.
The move comes after months of Republicans pleading with Trump to focus his messaging — and fundraising war chest — on helping the party retain control of Capitol Hill come November.
Some House Republicans following the speech told Blue Light News the effort showed how desperate the president was in the last weeks of midterm campaigning.
“It’s a little late,” one House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said.
Others may have been relieved that the president was touting a message aimed at affordability concerns at the top of voters’ minds.
“We got to talk about the issues that people are dealing with. Families can’t afford their house, they can’t afford the food, they can’t afford health care, they can’t afford child care,” Sen. Rick Scott said in an interview in the convention hall before Trump’s announcement.
Sen. Ted Cruz in an exclusive interview with Blue Light News after Trump’s speech, said he’d prefer to tie work requirements to the dividends, but added specifics would need to be worked through.
“$1.3 trillion dollars is a massive amount,” Cruz said, referring to his estimate for the plan. But, he said it’s less than if Democrats won back power and spent like “drunken sailors.”
Read also: ‘A communist caucus’: Trump gives Republicans their midterms enemy
What else we’re watching:
— CONGRESS IN DISARRAY OVER AI SAFETY: Congress is confronting a grim reality: Members may be ill-equipped and far from ready to rein in advanced new AI that one expert warned could “kill us all.” More than a dozen lawmakers and aides from both parties on Wednesday told Blue Light News they were hopeful Congress would start taking the issue seriously after a viral social media post this week from an ex-Anthropic researcher outlined dire risks. But it’s far from certain the desire to make progress will translate into meaningful legislative activity before the end of the year.
— SENATE DEMS HOLD THEIR FIRE ON FETTERMAN: Sen. John Fetterman has faced a tide of public criticism from fellow Democrats as he stakes out lonely ground as a critic of the far-left wing of his party. So far, however, his Senate colleagues haven’t joined the pile-on. Another wave of intraparty criticism rolled in Wednesday after he made a surprise video appearance at the Republican midterm convention. But Democratic senators are staying above the fray as they work to flip the majority in November amid constant speculation that the 57-year-old Pennsylvanian could trigger a nightmare scenario by leaving the party and caucusing with the GOP.
Ashley Ahn, Dasha Burns, Meredith Lee Hill, Kelsey Brugger, Riley Rogerson and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
Sen. Ron Johnson is sending a letter Monday requesting a conference meeting to discuss the midterm results and a delay in the leadership election.
Johnson has gathered enough signatures to force the meeting under the Senate GOP’s rules and is proposing the gathering for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
“Tuesday’s result was a stunning defeat,” Johnson and his backers write in the letter to Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO. “Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice”
Republicans still expect their leadership election to be held Tuesday, where Majority Leader John Thune is so far unopposed to lead the party next year in the minority.
Sen. Chris Murphy announced Friday that he has been released from the hospital after suffering a stroke last week, but will miss “several weeks” of Senate votes while he continues to recover.
“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far,” the Connecticut Democrat said in a statement. “In order to take my recovery seriously and get back to work on the quickest timeline possible, I will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital today.”
He added that he remains in touch remotely with his staff and colleagues.
Murphy, who was hospitalized last weekend, said Friday that he was “diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.” Jose Suarez, the Chief of Neurosciences Critical Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in a separate statement released by Murphy’s office that the senator “experienced a small hemorrhagic stroke.”
“He has shown tremendous progress, and at the current rate of improvement, we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation,” Suarez added.
Murphy is the latest senator to suffer a stroke in recent years. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) were both hospitalized for strokes in 2022. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), at that time a Senate candidate, also had a stroke in 2022 that he later described as near fatal.
The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said his group will still be power brokers in a massive Democratic majority in a strategy memo previewing plans for next term.
“While some in the press have speculated that a majority of this size undermines our influence within the caucus, they have it exactly backwards,” Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said in the Friday memo obtained by Blue Light News. “Big majorities are good for getting big things done. Our goal is not to win a battle against other Democratic caucuses. It is to pass longstanding progressive priorities that bring down costs, root out corruption, and boost wages.”
The CPC will have at least 105 members next term, according to the memo. If Democrats had a narrow majority, progressives — and any other faction in the caucus — could have used their votes as leverage. Now that presumptive speaker Hakeem Jeffries will have as many 30 votes to spare, Democrats broadly are recalibrating their approach next term.
Casar laid out a “three-pronged” strategy for the CPC to “wield our power” in the three-page memo — tackling legislation, oversight and “holding Donald Trump to his word on populist economic policies.”
“Small majorities give corporate special interest groups the ability to block popular populist policies by recruiting a small number of opponents; a big majority gives us the advantage,” he said.
Casar previewed how the CPC can engage with Trump, noting that “one of the few bright spots for bipartisan lawmaking” was a housing bill that banned private equity firms from buying homes. He noted the caucus should push Trump to cap credit card interest rates, lower credit card fees for small businesses and lower prescription drug costs.
“While we oppose [Trump] strongly on the vast majority of fronts, we should send bills to his desk that would lower prices and raise paychecks. If he signs them, good. If he vetoes those bills, that will propel us to a continued Democratic majority and a trifecta where a Democratic president can sign these proposals into law,” he said.
Casar also outlined oversight targets beyond the administration, urging Democrats to specifically investigate corporations that use customer data for “surveillance pricing,” health care companies that are “taking advantage of seniors” through the Medicare Advantage program and artificial intelligence labs who are “putting jobs and lives at risk.”
“By focusing not just on the Trump administration but also on big corporations and billionaires, we will show the American people we are not just anti-Trump but also pro-worker and pro-consumer,” he said.
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