Congress

Capitol agenda: Where we’re at on funding talks

Published

1 year ago

September 8, 2025

Factions are forming on Capitol Hill over how to avoid a shutdown in three weeks. Here’s a breakdown of what key groups are gunning for ahead of Sept. 30.

GOP FISCAL HAWKS AND THE WHITE HOUSE — This group wants a stopgap bill to go through January or later, rather than a shorter patch that could lead to a more comprehensive funding agreement.

Repeatedly kicking the can on funding bills is part of OMB Director Russ Vought’s strategy to slash spending. It would allow Republicans to muscle through rescissions and reconciliation packages to add or subtract funding without relying on Democrats.

But the partisan tactic would cost GOP appropriators, who are attempting to stay relevant as President Donald Trump skirts lawmakers’ power of the purse.

Caught in the middle of it all is Speaker Mike Johnson, who will have to decide whether to push through a funding plan backed by Trump but not Democrats. He did it successfully in March, but Senate Democrats may be less willing to cooperate.

“They jammed us last time,” Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii), a top Dem appropriator, said in an interview. “And I am encouraging my Republican friends who want to do appropriations to understand that that won’t work this time.”

DEMOCRATS AND GOP APPROPRIATORS — This group wants a short-term extension to fund the government through November or December, giving appropriators more time to negotiate a bipartisan deal. Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently discussed the possibility.

Democrats warn there will be a funding lapse if Republicans refuse to negotiate with them. Democrats haven’t tied themselves to specific funding ultimatums and instead are floating other ways for Republicans to win their support. One possible concession would be a deal to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire at year’s end.

Top House and Senate appropriators are considering a hybrid approach: A full year of updated funding levels for the USDA, the VA and congressional operations paired with short-term extensions of other agencies to give appropriators more time to negotiate.

But as of last week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer hadn’t spoken about the shutdown deadline – evidence that bipartisan talks still have a long way to go.

What else we’re watching:

— Rules change Monday: Thune will take the first procedural steps on the Senate floor Monday to lay the groundwork for changing rules on nominations later this week, according to a person granted anonymity to talk about the plans. The push to speed up the confirmation of Trump’s nominees comes after Democrats balked at confirming a batch of the president’s picks before August recess.

— Epstein latest: Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are inching closer to reaching the 218 signatures required to force a vote to compel the release of the Epstein files. They’ll get one more Democrat’s signature once Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) returns to Washington this week. They hope to collect the last two signatures by the end of month after two special elections to fill vacant seats formerly held by the late Democratic Reps. Gerry Connolly (Va.) and Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.). Democrats are likely to hold onto both seats.

— PBM reform moving: Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said his staff is in talks with aides to ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) about moving legislation this fall that would overhaul the practices of pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs. It’s an indication of real momentum around reviving a policy agreement that’s been stalled since it fell out of a government funding bill last year.

Jennifer Scholtes, Jordain Carney, Katherine Tully-McManus and Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

4 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

4 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.

Congress

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras

Published

9 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Flock has faced severe public backlash against the surveillance technology following reports that police officers misused the technology to track women, and it has the largest network of license plate readers across the U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hosted a hearing last month probing its potential misuses, although the company’s CEO Garrett Langley did not appear.

The latest bill, unveiled Friday and named the Ban Flock Act, would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers or accessing data from the technology and prevent federal grants from funding states and local governments that use automated license plate readers.

“At a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” Sanders, who has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI technology, said in a statement. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Ocasio-Cortez similarly condemned the surveillance capabilities of the technology and said the bill would “enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

“No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips,” Merkley added.

Republicans have introduced similar efforts to regulate license plate readers, such as Hawley’s Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would require audits and limits on unauthorized searches.

Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.