Congress
Capitol agenda: Trump huddles with House GOP
House Republicans will hear directly from President Donald Trump Tuesday for the first time since the administration’s extraordinary capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
A wider group of lawmakers who want answers on the operation will have to wait till Wednesday, when all House and Senate members are expected to get briefed by administration officials. So far, both Democrats and Republicans are grumbling about the lack of details from the White House on what’s next for Venezuela.
— Where things stand: Speaker Mike Johnson emerged from a leadership briefing Monday night and said he does not believe the U.S. will send troops to Venezuela. And he played down concerns that Trump and his deputies reneged on pledges not to pursue regime change in Venezuela.
“This is not a regime change,” Johnson said. “This is a demand for change of behavior by a regime.”
But other Republicans struck a more skeptical note. “I think what the president was trying to communicate is hopefully facilitating a peaceful transition of power,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who was not at the briefing. “I don’t know how you do that without boots on the ground. And I don’t support boots on the ground.”
The Senate is on track to take up a bipartisan war powers resolution Thursday aimed at constraining future Venezuela strikes. But don’t expect this attempt to succeed where prior ones have failed.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who entertained supporting past resolutions, said he would not vote for the measure “at this time.”
— Trump’s turn to talk: The president’s address to House Republicans Tuesday morning during their closed-door retreat at the Kennedy Center is expected to focus on touting GOP wins and rallying Republicans ahead of the midterms — not Venezuela.
GOP leaders plan to discuss their 2026 legislative agenda with the rank-and-file. That includes whether Republicans will tackle another reconciliation bill and how to deal with health care and affordability issues.
House Freedom Caucus members sent Johnson a letter Monday outlining policies they want to see accomplished in 2026, including reducing discretionary spending, codifying Trump’s border actions and preventing the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital currency.
— What Democrats are doing: Democrats are mulling options to force Venezuela-related votes, including during Tuesday’s Rules Committee hearing. Democrats expect Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) to reintroduce their own war powers resolution. And they are looking to keep the events of Jan. 6, 2021, in the spotlight on the five-year anniversary.
What else we’re watching:
— Jan. 6 anniversary split screen: Johnson broke his silence Monday on the long-running saga of the missing plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. His office made clear the plaque now sitting in storage won’t be hung on Johnson’s watch. The speaker’s comments come as House Democrats push to keep the attack in the public eye five years later. They are teeing up a Tuesday 10 a.m. presentation where they’re set to hear from former law enforcement officials, state officials, former members of the Democratic-led select panel and more.
— Appropriations moves: House and Senate GOP leaders are hoping to move a second funding package before the end-of-the-month shutdown deadline, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss the private strategy. That would be in addition to the three-bill package of Commerce-Justice- Science, Energy-Water and Interior-Environment, which the House will vote on this week and the Senate could take up as early as next week.
Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson will meet at the White House Tuesday with the executives of top artificial intelligence companies, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private plans.
The meeting comes as Congress is coming under increasing pressure to put federal guardrails on AI development, as fears mount that technological advancements could soon spiral beyond human control.
Responding to some warnings that AI development was on track to cause human extinction by the end of the decade, Johnson has said he wants Trump and AI CEOs to “go in a big room, close the door and sort this out.” He has yet to endorse major legislative action to address the issue, as Trump has resisted calls for government regulations, citing concerns about lagging behind China.
The president and speaker were in attendance at the State Dinner on Thursday night in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, as were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It was not immediately clear which of these executives would be invited to next week’s meeting, and who will be participating.
News that the meeting had been scheduled was first reported by Axios.
A group of 10 Democrats has signed on to Rep. Greg Casar’s (D-Texas) bill that would ban superintelligence and pause advanced AI development until a vetting regime could be stood up.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), both of whom are mulling a 2028 presidential run, are cosponsoring the bill, named the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act.
Khanna, in a statement, noted that he convened a hearing this week on AI safety cooperation between the U.S. and China as ranking member of the House China Select Committee with AI experts who underscored the need for a verifiable pause on superintelligence.
AI superintelligence is an as-yet hypothetical form of the advanced technology that surpasses humans’ cognitive capabilities, but exactly when AI crosses the threshold into superintelligence remains contested. The bill would subject violators to a 20-year prison sentence.
The support from prominent progressives in the Democratic caucus comes as the party is navigating how they would approach AI regulation should they retake control of one or both chambers in November.
Other cosponsors include Reps. Analilia Mejia of New Jersey, Yassamin Ansari and Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, Chuy García of Illinois, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania and Nydia Velázquez of New York.
“We absolutely have to slow down and regulate the advancement of dangerous AI technologies that have the potential to spiral out-of-control and threaten humanity,” Ansari said.
To Lynch, a string of recent AI-led cyberbreaches has “shown us that the advanced forms of this are out of control,” he said in an interview. “We haven’t really solved that control problem yet, nor have we got the alignment problem right yet.”
Casar’s bill, introduced this week with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is among the most stringent AI regulations proposed by either party.
Rather than focusing on bans as Casar and his progressive allies have done, centrist Democrats are looking to legislative proposals they say can address the technology’s risks without stifling innovation.
Senate Republicans are discussing whether to call up a data center utility costs bill as they make plans to stay in Washington next week rather than beat an early exit before the midterms.
Two GOP aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the Senate will remain in town amid pressure from some corners of the party to send members home early to campaign.
Asked if the Senate will stay next week, Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday it’s “looking that way.”
While some lawmakers had hoped to move a long-brewing bipartisan energy permitting deal, those hopes have evaporated, and GOP leaders are instead eyeing votes on the Ratepayer Protection Act — a top priority of endangered Ohio Sen. Jon Husted.
Thune said Thursday moving to the data-center-focused bill next week “is an option.” The Senate is also expected to take up a Democratic resolution condemning the Iran war and several presidential nominations.
The Ratepayer Protection Act easily passed the House earlier this month, but some Senate Democrats are arguing it does not go far enough and party leaders could be motivated to deny Husted a pre-election win.
Josh Siegel contributed to this report.
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