Congress

Congress is back. They have more to deal with than a potential shutdown.

Published

10 months ago

September 2, 2025

Congress returns Tuesday facing one big deadline: a possible federal government shutdown on Oct. 1 if Republicans and Democrats can’t come together on a funding deal.

But congressional leaders also have to manage a pileup of other thorny issues that could derail their plans and make September an unusually unpredictable month on Capitol Hill.

The potential fights include President Donald Trump’s push to tackle crime in Washington and elsewhere, the pending Senate pileup of his nominees, an ongoing push to ban stock trading by lawmakers and the looming expiration of key health care subsidies.

There’s also the explosive matter that forced the House to beat an early exit out of town in July: a bipartisan push to release Justice Department files related to the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) plan to start the process of forcing a vote on their bill to compel the complete disclosure of Epstein-related documents “immediately,” Massie said in an interview.

“This has not gone away like the speaker had hoped,” Massie said. “If anything, now that the DOJ is releasing documents, it’s increasing the momentum.”

The GOP dissension over Epstein, as well as internal pressure to hold a vote on cracking down on member stock trading, pose twin threats to Speaker Mike Johnson’s control of the House as the shutdown deadline approaches.

Even a minor blowup could threaten Republican unity at a moment where Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune want to present a united GOP front in the escalating funding fight.

Thune is facing challenges of his own: Senate Republicans are gearing up to change the chamber’s rules on presidential nominations amid pent-up frustration over the pace of confirmations — even as the White House throws them into a fight over the Federal Reserve’s independence that many of them are wary about.

Both chambers will also take up the sprawling annual defense policy bill, including a politically dicey cryptocurrency-related provision favored by House GOP hard-liners. And Republicans will try to quickly act to extend Trump’s control of the D.C. police — and potentially move broader crime legislation.

But the cloud hanging over all of it is that end-of-the-month deadline to avert a politically risky shutdown a year ahead of the midterms with Republican control of Congress at stake.

Senate GOP leaders and appropriators want a short-term year-end patch to buy time for a larger funding deal, possibly including an extension of the health care subsidies. They’ll face pushback from some conservatives, in both chambers and potentially the White House, who want to jam Democrats with a year-long funding bill that reflects GOP funding priorities.

Trump has already thrown Congress an early curveball — and increased the odds of a shutdown — by moving Friday to unilaterally claw back roughly $5 billion in approved foreign aid funding, further eroding already frayed bipartisan trust and infuriating Democrats and some Republicans.

Here’s what to watch heading into the September sprint:

Epstein files

Massie and Khanna plan to launch a discharge petition this week — an effort to sidestep Johnson and force a House vote on their bill requiring the Justice Department to release the complete Epstein files.

The duo is planning a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday morning with victims of the deceased sex trafficker — just as GOP members and staffers meet with Trump officials for a strategy session blocks away.

Democrats on the Rules Committee, meanwhile, are expected to again force panel Republicans into tough votes by raising Epstein-related measures — a tactic that triggered a GOP mutiny and paralyzed the House floor in July.

Massie acknowledged GOP leaders could try to quash his discharge effort in the Rules Committee. “But I think this issue has reached escape velocity,” he said. “I don’t think they can get away with that on this.”

He added he is confident he can gather the necessary 218 signatures. And Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.), who told reporters last week he would vote for the bill, said the discharge petition was putting his party’s leaders in a tight spot. “I don’t think there’s too many options,” Moore said. “I think you have to take it up, right?”

House GOP leaders, meanwhile, have discussed the option of putting an alternative Epstein resolution up for a vote to head off Massie’s discharge effort, according to two Republicans granted anonymity to relay private discussions.

In the Senate, Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee invoked a little-used law and set a Sept. 2 deadline for the DOJ to hand over documents and brief panel staff. If the department doesn’t comply, Democrats believe they’ll be able to sue — and keep the issue in the headlines indefinitely.

Member stock trading

Johnson is getting a little more breathing room on another internally divisive matter that has simmered over the summer break: a ban on congressional stock trading.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) is making good on her threats to launch a discharge petition that would force a vote on her favored bill, authored by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). But she’s signaling she won’t trigger a floor vote immediately when lawmakers return. Instead, she plans to give GOP leaders till the end of the month to bring a stock-trading bill to the floor on their own terms.

If they don’t act, “I am calling up the discharge petition,” Luna said in an interview.

Democrats have privately warned they won’t sign en masse onto a discharge of the narrower Burchett bill alone — they want a more comprehensive measure. Lawmakers say they plan to soon unveil a separate bipartisan compromise that has been months in the making.

But GOP leaders are not yet sold on any ban. Johnson, in fact, has privately argued some lawmakers need to trade stocks in order to pay for their children’s schooling and other expenses.

Presidential nominations

After four weeks out of Washington, Republicans still believe they need to deploy the “nuclear option” to speed up consideration of Trump’s nominees.

That means acting along party lines to change the chamber’s rules, and GOP senators are expected to discuss next steps during a closed-door lunch this week. But their leaders have been laying the groundwork for the move, with Thune warning at a South Dakota event last month that “we’re going to change the way we do nominations in this country.”

Ideas under discussion include reducing the amount of debate time for most presidential nominees, confirming those nominees in groups or eliminating the need for procedural votes. There’s also interest in reducing the number of nominees that require Senate confirmation, but senators believe that would require a new law — not just a rules change.

Republicans will need near-complete unity to change the rules and already GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has said he won’t go nuclear. Facing criticism of Democrats’ nominee blockage, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said “historically bad nominees deserve a historic level of scrutiny by Senate Democrats.”

Crime

Justice Department officials spoke during the recess with a small group of GOP staff about assembling a crime bill, according to two Republicans granted anonymity to describe the early talks.

Trump said last week he wants a “comprehensive” bill dealing with what he sees as a winning issue for Republicans heading into next year’s midterms — and he wants it fast. The package would likely reflect Trump’s push to eliminate no-cash bail nationwide and codify several other of his recent executive actions, among other items.

The talks are still in the “very preliminary” stages, according to one of the Republicans. One GOP lawmaker said passing a crime package would represent a huge win for the party ahead of next year’s midterms — and would also take the focus off Republicans’ Epstein crisis.

Trump is also pushing Congress to extend his 30-day takeover of the D.C. police, which expires on Sept. 9 — but it faces an all-but-guaranteed roadblock from Senate Democrats. He also wants $2 billion to “beautify” Washington, but lawmakers are still waiting for the administration to send over details of the request. What remains to be seen is what policy provisions Hill Republicans would seek to attach to any cash infusion for the overwhelmingly Democratic capital.

Government funding — and more

Republicans notched a huge win this spring when they were able to force Democrats to accept a full-year extension of fiscal 2024 funding levels. This time, however, the GOP is facing divisions in its ranks over their September funding strategy.

Thune has indicated he would prefer a short-term stopgap that would allow time to make progress toward a larger funding deal with Democrats at the end of the year. That strategy is backed by Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, who is up for reelection in Maine next year, and other members of the spending panel.

But some conservatives in the House and Senate are already pushing for another full-year stopgap, paired with more spending cuts and potential policy sweeteners. House GOP leaders are seriously considering the idea — and it might also have fans in the administration, which has shown little interest in trying to cut a deal with Democrats.

The White House, in fact, significantly amped up chances for a shutdown Friday, when it moved to unilaterally cancel $5 billion in State Department and international aid funding. The so-called “pocket rescission” could be just the first salvo from White House budget director Russ Vought, who is determined to assert new presidential powers to rein in spending.

The move generated immediate backlash from lawmakers who believe the administration is undermining any chance of getting a bipartisan government funding agreement. Collins, for instance, called the move “a clear violation of the law.”

But it’s Democratic leaders who are under fierce pressure to play hardball. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who took fire inside his party for assenting to the spring funding deal, offered a warning Friday: “If Republicans are insistent on going it alone, Democrats won’t be party to their destruction.”

Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are pushing the GOP to come to the table to discuss not only government funding, but also the impending lapse of tax credits offered under the Affordable Care Act. The expiration threatens to spike health insurance premiums for millions of low-income Americans unless lawmakers act.

Many vulnerable House Republicans are also desperate to extend the insurance subsidies, and bipartisan conversations are underway in the Senate. But a growing number of House and Senate conservatives are privately warning that any extension will be offset by additional cuts to Medicaid spending — a red line for Democrats and also some GOP senators.

This week, Johnson and Thune plan to put the spending fight on the back burner. The House is set to vote on the fiscal 2026 Energy and Water funding bill, while the Senate will move forward with the annual defense policy bill.

And while internal GOP strategy talks could break out, leaders are likely to seek out a way to push the ultimate showdown later into the year. The alternative would be a long, bitter and politically perilous shutdown.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

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

Published

12 hours 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.

Congress

Key Democrats urge House to reject kids’ safety proposal

Published

15 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Commerce Committee’s top Democrat Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) warned House lawmakers against advancing their chamber’s version of the Kids Online Safety Act, arguing it would face intense lobbying from tech companies in the Senate and risk unraveling years of bipartisan work.

“If it is passed by the House it will come to the Senate,” Blumenthal, the bill’s Senate cosponsor, told reporters at a Friday press briefing. The Connecticut Democrat said he is concerned senators will be influenced by the tech industry’s “armies of lawyers and lobbyists” who may “confuse and exploit” misunderstandings about a House bill with the same name as a Senate version but excludes key provisions, such as the “duty of care.” (This concept requires online companies to design social media platforms with an eye for children’s safety.)

“We’re not going to let bad legislation with a good title just get across and think somebody’s done something,” Cantwell said.

The House version of KOSA — which is included in the KIDS Act, a revised bipartisan package that the Energy and Commerce Committee advanced along party lines in March — is scheduled to be considered on the House floor next week under suspension of the rules.

“We need to stop this bill in the House, and we need to prevent the White House from forming an alliance with Big Tech on this issue,” said Blumenthal, who characterized the version of KOSA that House leadership is pushing as a “sham.”

Both Democratic lawmakers also expressed concern that Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) could adopt the House version of KOSA in a kids’ safety package he has yet to publicly release but has pledged to markup by August recess. Cruz said “negotiations are ongoing” earlier this week when asked by Blue Light News whether he would be open to incorporating such changes put forward in the House.

Cruz’s package is expected to include KOSA as well legislation barring companies from using minors’ personal data for targeted advertising, banning kids under age 13 from social media, and providing greater oversight for how children interact with AI chatbots.

Although Blumenthal remains hopeful that Cruz will “stay true to his first vote in favor of KOSA,” which overwhelmingly passed in the Senate last Congress, the Connecticut Democrat said Friday he’s worried Cruz and others may be tempted to “take the bait” and abandon the bill’s basic principles.

Congress

Moderates beware: Mamdani coalition portends a dramatically different Democratic Party in NYC

Published

18 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

NEW YORK — A coalition powered by Mayor Zohran Mamdani expanded the left’s reach Tuesday, winning younger voters across racial and ethnic lines and once again upending conventional wisdom about elections in New York City.

A series of hotly contested congressional and state elections pit a slate of Mamdani-backed democratic socialists and progressives against establishment candidates who, in several cases, differed little on policy aside from U.S.-Israel relations.

The results were staggering.

Midterm election cycles in deep-blue New York City tend to be sleepy affairs. Both this year and in 2022, just over 500,000 people cast ballots, less than 20 percent of eligible voters. But turnout within a congressional district spanning Upper Manhattan and the Bronx increased by roughly 50 percent between 2022 and Tuesday, with more than 66,000 voters heading to the polls.

In another seat covering parts of Brooklyn and Queens, turnout more than doubled from 2022, though state and federal elections were held on different days that year and the seat was not competitive, which would have reduced the number of voters going to the polls.

Congressional candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America were able to replicate the mayor’s success by winning younger Latino voters in Brooklyn and a majority of Black voters in Harlem. Combined with the DSA’s base in relatively wealthy neighborhoods, the result charted the far left’s broadening appeal and a potential reorientation of the electorate that will influence races for years to come.

“This was a big wave for DSA and they did a good job capitalizing on it,” said Evan Roth Smith, a pollster with Slingshot Strategies. “The question now is: Was this a wave cycle that will abate, or is it the start of the takeover?”

Much of Mamdani’s base is concentrated in the so-called “commie-corridor,” a series of neighborhoods along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront filled with young, educated and affluent voters who’ve propelled several DSA candidates into office. They went gaga over Mamdani’s candidacy and, as Tuesday’s results show, will turn out for candidates he supports.

The area was crucial to Assemblymember Claire Valdez’s crushing 56-38 defeat of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

“The factor that felt most significant to me were all of these New Yorkers who got activated and politicized in the mayor’s race last year who were looking for the next fight,” said Andrew Epstein, a political adviser to Mamdani who worked on Valdez’ campaign. “Those people didn’t go away. And they want to keep going.”

Valdez also won several heavily Latino areas that were expected to break for her opponent.

Reynoso was born in Brooklyn to Dominican parents and just a few years ago was a City Council member representing Bushwick, a long-gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood that’s home to Latino families and young hipsters. Valdez was born in Texas, moved to New York City in 2015 and served in the state Assembly for just one term before launching her Mamdani-backed bid for retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat.

She ended up winning areas of Bushwick by even greater margins than the total results — in some election districts winning upwards of 80 percent of the vote.

“You don’t win the district by 35 points if you don’t have broad advantages across age and demographic groups,” said Michael Lange, an election analyst and Mamdani supporter who has tracked several contested races with extreme granularity. “Is she blowing him out of the water with Hispanic voters under 50? I see tons of evidence that the answer is yes.”

The age advantage was the common thread across several other races.

In Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, for example, younger Black voters in Harlem were key to Darializa Avila Chevalier’s win over Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who had built a small political empire in the district.

While gentrifying, the neighborhood remains a seat of Black political power and is home to younger households who tend to rent. That particular demographic is a strong indicator of why Mamdani won the area in 2025, even as he lost the Black vote overall to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose support was concentrated among older Black homeowners in Brooklyn and Queens.

While Espaillat never healed a rift with the Black community in upper Manhattan opened during his election in 2016, which contributed to his weak performance, Avila Chevalier demonstrated Tuesday that a significant share of voters there were not just supportive of Mamdani the person, but of the broader political movement he’s now leading.

Overall, she edged out Espaillat with Black voters 48-46, according to an analysis from The New York Times, which charted demographic breakdowns for several contested races.

Three winning congressional candidates endorsed by Mamdani — including former city Comptroller Brad Lander in Brooklyn, who unseated incumbent Dan Goldman — share several similarities. They won younger, college-educated and wealthier voters by huge margins, in several cases by 30 points or more, and lost lower-income voters to incumbents or candidates affiliated with incumbents — a sign that the movement seeking to boost struggling New Yorkers has not won them over.

While the DSA was able to win three state races without the support of Mamdani — a testament to the organizing prowess of the left that was essential to reactivating the mayor’s coalition — there were limits to the city’s leftward shift.

Rep. Grace Meng won her reelection race, though she only vanquished challenger Chuck Park by 14 points, an uncomfortable margin for an incumbent of her stature. Park, who ran to Meng’s left, was boosted by a huge turnout in Woodside, Queens, a multiethnic neighborhood that went heavily for Mamdani in last year’s mayoral race.

Elsewhere in the Bronx, however, incumbents remained strong. Rep. Ritchie Torres handily won reelection with 72 percent of the vote, though it was a low-turnout affair more consistent with an uncompetitive midterm. Nevertheless, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries touted the results — even as he watched a series of his endorsed candidates fall to the DSA in Brooklyn, his home borough, in a preview of the intraparty battles to come.

“In some higher-income districts, there was an outsized focus on the Middle East. In other districts, for instance, in the South Bronx, Ritchie Torres ran against somebody who was heavily critical of his position on Israel, and he won by fifty points,” Jeffries told MS NOW on Wednesday.