Congress
Capitol agenda: Trump secretaries start hitting Blue Light News
Democratic appropriators infuriated by the Trump administration’s disregard for Congress’ power of the purse are getting their first chance to cross examine the secretaries who have aided the president’s slashing.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins are hitting Blue Light News Tuesday to testify on their portions of President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request. VA Secretary Doug Collins is also likely to face sharp budget questions when he appears before Senate Veterans’ Affairs Tuesday.
Democrats will push hard for answers on why Trump is unilaterally cutting congressionally approved funding — and why he’s proposing another $163 billion in nondefense cuts going forward.
“Appropriations laws are not suggestions,” Rep. Lauren Underwood, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security subcommittee, told Blue Light News of the warning she’ll deliver to Noem. Here’s where things could get testy Tuesday:
The looming X-date: Expect lawmakers to press Bessent on when the Treasury Department believes Congress will have to act on the debt limit (unless Treasury drops that news before his 10 a.m. hearing). Bessent and House Republicans will need Democrats’ support to raise the debt limit if the X-date comes before the GOP can pass its party-line megabill.
Noem will have to defend Trump’s immigration policies: The president’s budget called for a 65 percent increase in funding for border security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Noem is almost certain to face scrutiny over disaster aid, with the Trump administration on track to run out of cash for FEMA this summer. The secretary plans to tell lawmakers that the agency “needs to be both reformed and reimagined,” while privately telling officials she wants FEMA to end its role in funding long-term rebuilding efforts and helping communities with disaster preparation.
But Congress will want to know whether the Trump administration has plans to fund existing disaster aid needs — and when it plans to make a formal request, kicking off what could be a contentious funding fight.
On the Senate side, expect Rollins to get questions on funding freezes and tariffs’ impact on U.S. farmers. Meanwhile, Democrats are expected to slam Collins over plans to cut tens of thousands of jobs at the VA. All in all, expect a preview of what other Cabinet secretaries will face as they parade up to Blue Light News for their budget hearings in the coming weeks.
What else we’re watching:
— D.C. funding fix: Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday the House will vote “as quickly as possible” on fixing D.C.’s $1 billion funding shortfall. But he also suggested it’s taking a back seat to resolving Republicans’ megabill problems. “We’re not delaying this for some political purpose or any intentionality,” Johnson told reporters Monday. “It’s just a matter of schedule.”
— Crypto bill changes: Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he is open to amending landmark cryptocurrency legislation that GOP leaders hope to pass in the coming weeks. This comes as Republicans scramble to negotiate changes that would win over enough Democrats to overcome a filibuster.
— Sports executives on Blue Light News: Senate Commerce is meeting Tuesday to discuss how the rise in digital platforms is changing the way Americans watch sports. “Catching your favorite team on TV shouldn’t feel like solving a puzzle,” said Chair Ted Cruz. “Games that used to be free or easy to find are now scattered across pricey apps and exclusive deals.” Executives from the NBA, MLB and NHL all scheduled to testify. According to Cruz, the NFL declined to send a representative.
Jordain Carney, Jasper Goodman, Meredith Lee Hill, Jennifer Scholtes and Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
Rep. Lori Trahan on Wednesday unveiled a discussion draft for a bill that would make artificial intelligence developers liable when their products cause harm.
The legislation comes after OpenAI’s agents escaped containment and autonomously hacked into AI platform Hugging Face and accessed U.S. government websites.
The Clear Liability for Artificial Intelligence Misconduct Act aims to make it easier for those harmed by so-called rogue AI to bring claims against developers. Trahan’s bill does not preempt new state laws on AI liability — historically a prerequisite for attracting Republican support in the House.
“When someone breaks the law and hurts you, you can take them to court. That shouldn’t change just because the wrongdoer is an AI agent,” Trahan (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “Developers have already built systems capable of acting on their own and causing real damage. The CLAIM Act makes sure they answer for what their systems do.”
Legal experts have warned that existing laws require proof of intent or negligence, standards that can be difficult to show in court when AI models go rogue.
Trahan’s bill would ensure AI developers are unable to argue that their AI systems are incapable of intent. Instead, courts “would presume an AI system acted with the state of mind a person taking the same actions would have had.”
Trahan spokesperson Francis Grubar said work on the CLAIM Act began almost immediately after theJuly introduction of the FRONTIER Act, legislation with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) that would grant the government power to restrict the deployment of AI models deemed to pose catastrophic risks. While that bill aims to prevent serious harms before they happen, Grubar said the CLAIM Act would address how to impose accountability for existing damages.
Unlike an AI liability proposal announced last week by Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Trahan’s legislation would not amend the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Grubar said the CLAIM Act would instead impose clearer liability on a broader range of harms, as well as autonomous or AI-enabled cyberattacks.
The CFFA, an anti-hacking law that bars individuals from accessing a computer without consent, requires proof of intent to hack into a computer system, which can’t be as easily applied to AI agents.
The Hugging Face incident, along with a flurry of other disclosed hacking incidents by rogue AI agents from OpenAI and other AI developers, has sparked a debate over how companies should be held legally liable for their AI systems.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in an interview with Blue Light News’s Decoded podcast, said there should be a new “liability framework” to hold developers accountable for AI-powered cyberattacks. His comments come after White House officials like Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton, who was recently appointed as AI czar by President Donald Trump, previously said that existing product liability laws are sufficient for now in addressing AI’s risks.
Vice President JD Vance will take questions from Michigan voters in a CBS News town hall airing Oct. 17 as the Trump administration prepares a closing message to voters ahead of the midterms.
The town hall comes amid a blitz of campaign events for Vance and President Donald Trump as their party faces multiple headwinds that could cost them control of the House and Senate.
Michigan’s Senate contest between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers has become one of the cycle’s closely watched battleground contests. Michigan also has several competitive House races and will elect a new governor for the first time in eight years.
Vance campaigned in Michigan with Rogers, gubernatorial nominee John James and Mike Bouchard Jr., the GOP nominee in the 10th Congressional District, at an Aug. 31 rally in Sterling Heights. Rep. Lisa McClain also appeared at the event.
The one-hour special, moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil, will be recorded earlier in the week. Vance and Dokoupil will discuss issues facing voters, including affordability, tariffs, immigration, health care, artificial intelligence, the war with Iran and the state of American democracy, according to CBS News.
The two were scheduled for a town hall interview in March, but the vice president postponed due to the war with Iran.
The vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Commerce Committee with vast jurisdiction over artificial intelligence policy, outlined six AI safety principles Wednesday morning — tenets she believes should underpin any legislation to stave off the greatest threats posed by the rapidly-evolving technology.
“To manage risks from advanced AI systems we need clear safety standards, continuous testing, and reporting of serious failures,” the Washington Democrat said in a statement. “America can lead the world in AI by building systems that are not only more capable, but safer and more secure.”
Cantwell’s framework would encompass six priority areas: enforceable safety standards for frontier models, continuous testing, disclosure and oversight, public-private partnerships, protection for children and workers and adherence to U.S.-led global standards.
To directly address risks posed by the technology, her framework would have federal experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other agencies establish clear federal rules to address harms, with specialized standards for open-source AI models to reduce risks of catastrophic misuse.
The senator is also recommending that the federal government provide developers with guidance on how to accelerate U.S. leadership on AI without sacrificing basic safety protocols.
On testing, Cantwell argues the government and independent experts should provide constant oversight and “continually scrutinize and stress test covered AI models,” particularly when sensitive information or secure facilities are involved.
She also says AI systems must have built-in safeguards to ensure they halt self-modification that could bypass safety controls. And she states that advanced models should not be released until they have undergone an independent, comprehensive audit — similar to outside auditors examining a company’s financial statements.
Cantwell, a former tech executive, has for years pursued similar priorities. But her new framework comes ahead of a midterm election that could return control of the Senate to Democrats, handing Cantwell back of the Commerce Committee gavel.
It also comes as lawmakers are under pressure to regulate the AI industry but are showing few signs that they will be able to reach consensus, across the aisle or even within their own party.
Senators had hoped for hearings, markups and briefings on AI legislation before leaving Washington until after the November elections, but little progress was made. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the current Commerce Committee chair, has continued to say he intends to hold a markup on AI-related bills but has punted multiple times, saying senators have yet to reach agreement on any bipartisan measure.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) have been trying to cut a deal on legislation to prevent and contain catastrophic risk from runaway AI technology, but bill text has so far failed to materialize.
Cantwell’s approach laid out Wednesday morning would be stricter and more comprehensive than what Thune and Klobuchar are expected to ultimately produce, based on similar legislation they have offered in the past.
Her approach of “constant oversight and vigilance” would also serve as a contrast to that of GOP leaders, who have consistently called for a “light touch” regulatory regime.
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