Congress

Capitol agenda: Trump may regret his revenge tour

Published

3 weeks ago

May 20, 2026

President Donald Trump notched more wins Tuesday in his revenge campaign against Republican lawmakers who’ve crossed him. But his victory lap may be short-lived.

In another stunning display of the president’s electoral power, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie lost his primary Tuesday night to Trump’s favored candidate, just days after the president’s sway knocked Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy out of his re-election race.

Trump on Tuesday also officially put Texas incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in his crosshairs by endorsing his primary challenger, scandal-plagued Ken Paxton, ahead of next week’s run-off in that state.

But several congressional Republicans are worried the president’s payback whims will cost the party control of the Texas seat as the GOP fights to retain the Senate. And some Republicans may be more willing to gum up Trump’s agenda after watching their colleagues, or themselves, get picked off by his hardball tactics.

— TEXAS IN TROUBLE: Trump’s long-awaited announcement backing Paxton over establishment Republicans’ preferred pick of Cornyn was met with shock and dismay among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Many of them now fear that keeping that Texas seat will be a more expensive and potentially futile endeavor.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she was “supremely disappointed” by Trump’s decision, which she said “puts that seat in jeopardy.”

Democrats quickly seized on Paxton’s likely nomination to say the party has a chance to win a Texas Senate race for the first time since 1988.

Rep. Ro Khanna told Blue Light News matching up Democratic nominee James Talarico with Paxton would create a “perfect storm” for Democrats, who already saw an opening given Talarico’s relatively broad appeal, massive fundraising haul and the political headwinds Republicans face.

— A DEFIANT CASSIDY: Trump’s primary retribution may also embolden lawmakers facing his wrath to hand the favor back to him.

Since losing his primary to Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming, Cassidy has both publicly opposed funding in the GOP-only reconciliation bill for Trump’s ballroom project and voted to rein in the U.S. military conflict in Iran (more on that below).

Murkowski said the president’s campaign against incumbents is “unprecedented.”

“Even though Bill Cassidy lost his primary, he is still a voting member of the Senate until January,” Murkowski said. “There are still many, many weeks — many months — to go before the election. And this president is going to have to continue to deal — and work with and partner with or battle with — this group of lawmakers.”

“Maybe he doesn’t think he needs us. But I don’t know, last time I checked, the laws don’t just appear before his desk to sign. The funding just doesn’t come,” Murkowski added.

Also Read: Donald Trump’s GOP revenge tour is complete

What else we’re watching:

— TRUMP’S BALLROOM FUNDING SUPPORT WANES: A critical mass of Senate Republicans are publicly objecting to spending taxpayer money on a White House ballroom project. Sens. Cassidy, Murkowski, Thom Tillis and Susan Collins have all raised concerns about the ballroom security funding, possibly enough to eject the provision from the GOP’s fast-moving immigration enforcement bill. And several senators are privately opposed, according to five people granted anonymity to disclose private deliberations.

— SENATE WAR POWERS VOTE DEALS BLOW TO TRUMP: Senators voted Tuesday to advance legislation to rein in Trump’s military action in Iran, handing a surprise victory to Democrats. The legislation will need to clear several more steps before it can pass, giving Republicans opportunities to kill the measure in the coming days. But Democrats picked up another GOP defector in Cassidy, who supported the move to limit Trump’s power just days after the president’s efforts sunk his re-election campaign.

Liz Crampton, Andrew Howard, Connor O’Brien and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Congress

Spy law on track to lapse after House rejects extension

Published

2 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House failed to extend a key surveillance law Thursday, effectively ensuring it will expire Friday night over warnings from Republican lawmakers and national security officials.

The proposal, rejected on a 218-198 vote, would have extended Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act through July 2. It would have been the latest in a series of punts Congress has passed in recent months.

But a Democratic uproar over President Donald Trump’s decision to tap political ally Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence tanked any chances for passage. The extension — put on the floor under a fast-track method that required a two-thirds-majority vote — failed to garner even a simple majority, winning the support of only seven Democrats.

Nineteen Republicans also voted to reject a punt of Section 702, which allows U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on targets abroad without a warrant. Surveillance under the program also sometimes captures communications with Americans, and some lawmakers in both parties want to put safeguards on how that material is searched.

The House is not expected to vote again until June 23, effectively ensuring Section 702 will expire for the first time since it was enacted in 2008.

Many Hill Republicans believe, despite the congressional failure, the Trump administration can and will continue to operate the program, possibly under a forthcoming executive order. But tech providers could mount legal challenges to the program if it expires, and national security officials fear that could temporarily limit visibility into surveillance targets under the law.

Asked if an executive order would be enough to keep Americans safe in the interim, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in an interview, “Hopefully it is.”

“Anybody who votes ‘no’ is casting a dangerous vote to put American lives at risk,” Scalise said, adding that Trump and his national security deputies are “going to do what they have to do to keep the country safe.”

Scalise said the burden for finding a solution lies with the Senate “to figure out some kind of path.” A procedural vote in the other chamber that would have set up passage of an extension failed last week.

Negotiators there had been circling on a deal allowing for a three-year extension of Section 702 authorities, but those talks collapsed after Trump announced his intention to appoint Pulte, a housing official with no national security experience.

House Democratic leaders encouraged members to vote against the reauthorization Thursday, arguing “meaningful reforms” are necessary.

“Section 702 is a critical foreign intelligence authority, but we cannot in good conscience vote for reauthorization without significant reforms to protect both national security and the constitutional privacy rights of Americans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other leaders said in a joint statement.

Congress

House Republicans huddle with Hegseth after Trump’s reconciliation demands

Published

2 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A group of senior House Republicans gathered at the Pentagon Thursday morning to discuss the military funding portion of another party-line reconciliation bill with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington, Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger and others also attended the meeting.

It’s a sign conversations around “Reconciliation 3.0” are heating up after President Donald Trump signed the GOP-only immigration enforcement funding measure earlier this week.

It also comes after Trump Wednesday night called for the GOP to approve $350 billion in Pentagon spending alongside a partisan election bill known as the SAVE American Act — which has been stalled in the Senate for weeks.

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, in response to Trump’s latest demands, noted that even some of the election measure’s most vocal Senate GOP advocates have said it can’t fit within the strict contours governing the filibuster-skirting, budget reconciliation process. And he didn’t commit to ultimately pursuing a third partisan package, either.

“We’re, as I’ve said before, open to using reconciliation if we make the calculation that we can achieve an outcome that [it’s] something we can get 50 votes for and 218 for,” Thune said, adding, “I’ve said before, at the moment I’m not sure what that is.”

Congress

Capitol agenda: Democrats’ H.R. 1 problem

Published

4 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Hakeem Jeffries wants “affordability” to be House Democrats’ primary legislative pitch heading into the midterms. But not all his members agree it should be “H.R. 1” if they win back the majority.

Other top Democrats interviewed this week said they hoped the party would prioritize other issues in a signature bill to kick off their return to power, including voting rights, anti-corruption measures and rolling back Trump initiatives.

“We must secure and guarantee the right to vote and to have free and fair elections because that is the basic premise of democratic society,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Judiciary Committee Democrat, said in an interview.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the group would like to see the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act revived in any new H.R. 1. Clarke said that she personally would prefer Democrats rally around “comprehensive immigration reform” as their first bill.

Even Democrats who want to prioritize cost-of-living issues have different perspectives on how to do it. Jeffries this week announced five affordability working groups, each led by moderates and progressives, to attempt to hash out the differences.

New Democrat Coalition Chair Brad Schneider told reporters last week that he wants the party to target President Donald Trump’s tariffs as their first action in the majority. The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ plan to lower costs would not touch tariffs at all.

What’s the priority for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is convening a health care working group with Rep. Terri Sewell?

“If I could wave my magic wand, we’d all have guaranteed health care,” she said in an interview.

What else we’re watching:

— TRUMP TRIES TO KICK-START RECON 3.0: The president is laying out twin demands for new party-line Republican legislation, directing lawmakers to deliver a $350 billion Pentagon cash infusion and to push through the stalled SAVE America Act election overhaul.

— DOOMED FISA VOTE: Republicans expect a House vote Thursday on a three-week extension of FISA Section 702 to fail, risking the surveillance program’s first-ever lapse after a Friday deadline. With the House and the Senate lacking a path forward, and the House leaving at the end of the day for recess until June 23, the spy authority is set to be in limbo until at least the end of the month.

— WHITE HOUSE AI STRATEGY: The White House is exploring a plan to block state-level AI laws by trying to attach preemption legislation to bills designed to shore up kids’ safety online. White House officials met separately this week with tech companies and kids’ safety groups to try to shore up support for the approach.

Mike DeBonis, Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney, Brendan Bordelon, Cheyenne Haslett and Gabby Miller contributed to this report.