Congress

Capitol agenda: Where we’re at on funding talks

Published

10 months 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

Sen. Thom Tillis rails against Trump’s fixation on voting legislation

Published

16 minutes ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday expressed frustration with President Donald Trump’s continued fixation on passing the SAVE America Act.

In an interview with BLN’s “Face the Nation,” the retiring North Carolina Republican lamented “the impossible task” of implementing the requirements of the legislation ahead of November’s crucial midterms.

“Why are we doing more things to undermine our confidence in elections, rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?” Tillis said.

Rather than promoting the bill — which would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end widespread mail-in voting — Tillis said Republicans should tell voters about “the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America” while accepting the current voting laws.

“Win by the good results that Republicans have produced and stop undermining the confidence in the elections,” said Tillis. “This is a bedrock of our 250-year history of success as the democracy that changed the world. Let’s not mess with that between now and November.”

Trump has said the SAVE America Act is his “No. 1 priority” ahead of midterms, going so far as to abruptly cancel a bill signing for major bipartisan legislation on housing affordability until Congress passes his elections bill. But many Democrats are staunchly against the bill, arguing it could disenfranchise millions of voters, and Republican leaders in Congress have repeatedly indicated it does not have the votes to pass.

Tillis co-sponsored the original SAVE America Act but has objected to Trump’s version of the legislation, which would also bar transgender athletes from women’s sports.

It’s not the first time Tillis has clashed with Trump.

Earlier this year, Tillis blocked Trump’s Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, until the Justice Department dropped an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He has also spoken out against the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it a “payout for punks.” And he has emerged as a fierce critic of Bill Pulte, Trump’s interim director of national intelligence.

“Let’s try and figure out a way to completely and finally end these distractions so that we can focus on the damage Democrats could do if they take the House, if they beat incumbent Republicans in the Senate. That’s what Republicans need to be talking about between now and November,” Tillis said Sunday.

Congress

Sen. Bill Cassidy on Trump: ‘Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage’

Published

1 hour ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bill Cassidy appeared to question President Donald Trump’s view of Congress, saying in an interview that he is not sure Trump grasps that Congress “is a separate body, separate from the presidency.”

“Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage, and, frankly, sometimes Congress acts like it’s an appendage,” the Louisiana Republican said in a pre-taped interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.

The latest criticism in a public clash between the two leaders, Cassidy also told host Margaret Brennan that he would be focused on affordability, including the cost of health care and groceries, if he were president.

“If I were president, I would be focused on those people that they have, my people, our people, us at the kitchen table. How do you make their life better? And that’s what I think the president should be focused on,” Cassidy said.

The relationship between Cassidy and Trump has been rocky for some time. Cassidy was one of only a handful of Republican leaders who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Trump and Cassidy recently clashed in a closed-door meeting between GOP leaders, with Cassidy admitting he raised his voice to “match” the president’s.

“The president said something negative about me. I received it as attempting to bully me from asking a question that I think the American people need to know, and I’m not going to be bullied,” Cassidy said at the time.

However, after receiving a special briefing from Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, Cassidy changed his vote on a resolution designed to rein in Trump’s power to wage war against Iran.

“They said right now the negotiations are delicate, and they could collapse if they’re not nursed along in the appropriate way. I can accept that,” Cassidy said.

“That’s the reason they said for their kind of lack of being forthcoming. I can accept that, but my goal was to be briefed, to have the truth in order to make a decision for the benefit of my country, and that was satisfied.”

Still, Cassidy’s stance against Trump has cost him: After serving more than a decade in the Senate, Cassidy lost his campaign for renomination after Trump endorsed against him. Rep. Julia Letlow will be the Louisiana Republican Senate candidate this fall.

Congress

Congressional Black Caucus blasts Slotkin over her calls for new leadership in the House

Published

2 days ago

June 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Congressional Black Caucus is emphatically declaring its support for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — and denouncing Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s call for new leadership in Congress.

In a statement posted to social media on Friday, the entirely Democratic CBC declared that it stands united behind the nation’s first Black minority leader of the House. The caucus accused the Michigan senator of “posturing for higher office in 2028” and called attention to her votes to approve multiple members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

“House Democrats don’t need a lesson on reading the political moment from someone who handed Donald Trump one of the most corrupt Cabinets in American history,” the CBC said. “Voting to confirm Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, and five other Trump Cabinet secretaries is not the posture of someone who understood the moment’ after 2024.”

The CBC closed its defense of Jeffries with a sharp parting shot of remaining focused on providing for Americans rather than “engaging in distractions that only serve to divide Democrats at a moment when unity and resolve are essential.”

A spokesperson for Slotkin, who has repeatedly called for a new generation of leadership in Congress, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.