Congress

Child safety advocates blast White House talks that let tech CEOs sidestep hearing

Published

2 hours ago

July 8, 2026

The family whose son inspired legislation to crack down on the exploitation of children on social media is condemning a White House intervention that secured administration support for a child online safety package — while allowing Meta and Google to send lower-level executives to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in place of their CEOs.

“It was our understanding that this legislation was never intended to become a political bargaining chip,” Tania and Tim Woods wrote in a Wednesday letter obtained by Blue Light News sent to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), other members of the committee and the White House. “It was created because children have died.”

James Woods, for whom the James T. Woods Act was named, was a 17-year-old Instagram user who died by suicide after being sexually extorted on the platform. His parents, Tania and Tim Woods, have since campaigned for tougher laws to prevent and penalize exploitation of children online — like the legislative package pending before the Judiciary Committee that would strengthen sentencing and criminal laws to help law enforcement prosecute individuals and groups that manipulate children on the internet.

Grassley has been working hard to advance the package, while also calling on the CEOs of Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap to testify before his committee about child online safety practices, among other topics.

But, after Meta representatives met with White House staff to express concerns about the hearing, the administration brokered a deal with Grassley that allowed lower-level executives at Meta and Google to testify in place of their CEOs in exchange for White House support of the James T. Woods Act, five people with knowledge of the events previously told Blue Light News.

Calling on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear before the committee, Tania and Tim Woods criticized the deal in their letter Wednesday, calling it “devastating for families like ours because it suggests that access and influence may carry more weight than the lives of children.”

“Mark Zuckerberg should not be negotiating the future of child safety legislation,” they wrote. “He should be answering for the role Meta has played in exposing children to predators and for the countless opportunities the company has had to make its platforms safer.”

Grassley’s Press Secretary Hannah Akey in a statement said the committee chair has worked hard with impacted families, law enforcement and child safety organizations to draft legislation to combat online child exploitation.

“The James T. Woods Act is a hugely bipartisan and widely supported bill that tackles disgusting crimes harming children nationwide … [Grassley] will continue his ongoing investigations of Big Tech, while also passing laws that will protect children across America,” Akey added.

Meta, Durbin and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress

Troy Jackson deletes past X posts about Graham Platner

Published

2 hours ago

July 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Troy Jackson, one of the Maine Democrats vying to replace Graham Platner on the Senate ticket, quietly removed posts about Platner from his X account Wednesday, a Blue Light News review discovered.

“Troy rescinded his endorsement and just wanted to make that clear,” said Christine Kirby, a spokesperson for Jackson, after Blue Light News inquired about the deleted posts.

Jackson, a progressive who ran for governor this cycle with Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) endorsement, is actively taking calls about running for U.S. Senate, POLITICO reported Monday. Our Revolution, a Sanders-aligned group that previously endorsed Platner, flipped its endorsement to Jackson on Tuesday.

But as some Maine Democrats are angered by Platner’s campaign allegedly attempting to “put their thumb on the scale” in selecting his replacement, as Maine Democratic Party Chair Devon Murphy-Anderson said Tuesday, Jackson and other Senate hopefuls are working to keep a healthy distance from Platner.

As of Wednesday morning, a March 2026 post from Jackson’s X account that showed a video of Platner praising Jackson as a “voice for the working class in Maine” — and a caption from Jackson that read “thank you, brother” — was no longer available, though it is still accessible through Wayback Machine, a website that retains some previously deleted content. Another post announcing a February 2026 campaign event with Platner, also available through Wayback Machine, was removed.

By Wednesday afternoon, several other posts — including one announcing his endorsement of Platner and another touting a poll showing Platner with a massive primary lead — were no longer available.

Congress

Kentucky governor asks Mitch McConnell for a health update

Published

6 hours ago

July 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is publicly asking Sen. Mitch McConnell to provide an update on his health amid a secretive weekslong hospitalization.

Beshear sent a letter to McConnell Wednesday, saying that Kentuckians had grown “increasingly concerned” since the former Senate Republican leader was hospitalized in mid-June about both his health and “ability to hold office.”

“As governor, I request that you fully update Kentuckians regarding the current status of your health,” Beshear wrote to McConnell. “As public officeholders, we have made a commitment to our constituents to do our best to represent them and to always be transparent. I believe this requires clear communication about one’s ability to serve.”

Spokespeople for McConnell did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Beshear’s letter or whether the senator had spoken with the governor or plans to speak with him.

Beshear said during a news conference last week that he had received “no updates” regarding McConnell’s health.

McConnell was first hospitalized on June 14. While his staff has provided multiple updates since, they have not disclosed why he was hospitalized or details on his condition. Online speculation that he could be in grave condition erupted online recently after news outlets reported on D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services radio traffic indicating a person at McConnell’s address was found unconscious and required cardiac resuscitation.

Three Republicans — Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Majority Whip John Barrasso and McConnell-adviser-turned-commentator Scott Jennings — said Tuesday they had spoken to McConnell this week.

Beshear, a Democrat who was elected in 2019, cited the online chatter in requesting transparency, arguing that “allowing speculation to continue in the media is not fair to the Senator or to Kentuckians.” He said his own office has been peppered with questions about McConnell’s health.

Notably, Kentucky Republicans have moved to sideline Beshear from the appointment process should there be a Senate vacancy. The state legislature changed the succession law in 2024, shortly after McConnell announced that he would retire at the end of his current term.

Where previously the governor could make an appointment to fill a Senate vacancy pending a special election, as in most states, the new law provides only for a special election. Republican legislators overrode a Beshear veto to enact the 2024 law, but there are ongoing questions about its legality that could be litigated if there is in fact a vacancy.

Congress

Johnson eyes vote on bill to end ‘birth tourism’ to satisfy right flank

Published

8 hours ago

July 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Speaker Mike Johnson is exploring whether to put legislation on the House floor that would end the ability of pregnant women to enter the United States legally to gain citizenship for their children.

The possible vote, described by four people granted anonymity to share details of private conversations, would be a way for Johnson to appease hard-liners who are demanding a vote to end birthright citizenship after the Supreme Court ruled against Trump administration efforts to undermine it.

House passage of a measure to crack down the practice would be largely symbolic, as it stands no chance of overcoming the Senate filibuster. But Johnson’s most conservative members are also continuing to agitate for the chance to vote on legislation to crack down on legal immigration in the U.S., and Johnson needs a way to respond to those demands quickly.

“If there’s some legislative fix, we’ll advance that immediately,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News Sunday over the weekend. While he warned that enacting a constitutional amendment would take “a little more time,” he added, “we’ve got to address this. It really is a serious, serious issue.”

A spokesperson for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his possible plan to target what critics call “birth tourism.”

Further complicating matters, the speaker promised hard-liners last month that he would hold a vote before July 4 on legislation that would codify President Donald Trump’s border security priorities — in exchange for their support on a more narrow bill funding federal immigration enforcement activities.

Those members now say Johnson has gone back on his word and, in revolt, they ground legislative business to a halt, forcing GOP leaders to send the House home early for the holiday recess. It could still be a problem when the chamber reconvenes next week, and Johnson needs to come up with a solution quickly.

Several GOP centrists are open to Johnson’s latest idea, according to two other people with knowledge of the talks. But the dynamics are deeply tricky for Johnson, who must grapple with intraparty factions divided over the party’s approach to the immigration issue broadly.

A handful of moderate Republicans do not want to vote on immigration matters so close to the midterms, while a swath of Republicans in agriculture-heavy districts have warned Johnson he needs to address an overhaul of the visa process for seasonal immigrant farm workers as part of any immigration package that comes to the floor. But that would stoke major backlash from the far-right rank and file.

For now, Republicans are still stuck without a final agreement or way forward.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters last week that Republicans were far from reaching a compromise, and one person involved in the talks Tuesday described senior House Republicans as “still pissing around” on the discussions.