Congress
Capitol agenda: Waters rallies support as rivals circle
The race to be the top House Financial Services Democrat could shape up to be a free-for-all.
Rep. Maxine Waters, 88, who has spent decades on the committee, faces a challenge from Rep. Sean Casten, 54, and a potential bid from Rep. Bill Foster, 71, a more moderate panel member.
And Rep. Joyce Beatty, a longtime ally of Waters and senior member on the panel, has been encouraged by some Democratic lawmakers and lobbyists to run, although she would only jump in the race “contingent on the current chairwoman not being able to have enough votes,” said a House Democratic staffer close to the committee granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive dynamics.
A spokesperson for Beatty said in a statement she’d be voting for Waters as chair.
Waters, a resistance icon and accomplished legislator, meanwhile, is already shoring up support.
“Unless there is an individual who brings the unrivaled experience and tantalizing toughness of Maxine Waters, I look forward to supporting her,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a member of both Financial Services and the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a statement.
The 50-plus member CBC is likely to bolster Waters’ bid, and Waters could also leverage her Los Angeles-area seat for support from the 43 Democrats in California’s congressional delegation. Beatty is also a CBC member.
Waters and her team have also been making calls this week to recruit members to whip for her, including moderate Rep. Josh Gottheimer and progressive Rep. Ayanna Pressley, according to two people with knowledge of her outreach.
Waters is an outspoken progressive who can also tout a track record of dealmaking with Republicans. By tapping two members on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, she is casting herself as a unifier.
On policy, Casten generally aligns with Waters. But his backers insist he has a unique lane given a caucus-wide appetite for generational change.
One senior House Democrat, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they believe Casten will make the race a fight, and described a “widespread perception” in the caucus that octogenarians hanging on to leadership roles is “just selfish, and is not in the best interests of our caucus. We need to have the best team on the field.”
In 2024, a slate of younger House Democrats successfully challenged aging incumbents by pitching themselves as the fresh, energetic faces of their committees.
At that time, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stayed out of the fray, and he might again. A Jeffries spokesperson did not return a request for comment.
What else we’re watching:
— HOUSE DEMS LOOK FOR CLARK TO BRING ‘ORDER’: Democrats’ No. 2 leader wants a chamber reset after four years of routine floor meltdowns and speaker revolts in a GOP-controlled House. But if Democratic majority materializes, it will include progressives like Rep. Katherine Clark herself, as well as “majority-maker” moderates and a crop of new leftist lawmakers. “To handle a couple hundred members of Congress is no kid job,” moderate Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who would be the longest-serving House Democrat if she can win reelection, said of Clark, adding she’s well-equipped to “keep order in the House, get our business done on time.” Clark and Jeffries, are intent on neutralizing infighting and keeping the House focused on an affordability and accountability agenda to pave the way for a presidential win in 2028.
— LEE, CRUZ BACK JAN. 6 CO-CONSPIRATOR: Two prominent Senate Judiciary Republicans are asking the Supreme Court to review the disbarment of John Eastman for helping orchestrate the plot to overturn the 2020 election for President Donald Trump. Sen. Mike Lee, who is poised to be the top Republican on the panel next Congress, and Sen. Ted Cruz, wrote in a brief filed with SCOTUS Wednesday that the decision to revoke Eastman’s license to practice law in California was a result of political activists weaponizing the bar disciplinary process against attorneys on “the disfavored side of public controversies.” Eastman was criminally charged in Georgia and Arizona for his role in the scheme, and in April he was disbarred.
Chris Marquette 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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