Congress

Cornyn threatens to block Trump’s ambassadors over AIDS prevention funding

Published

1 hour ago

July 21, 2026

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is threatening to sink the ambassador nominations of two high-profile allies of President Donald Trump unless the White House commits to distributing AIDS funding in Africa.

A spokesperson for Cornyn, a member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Blue Light News on Tuesday that he wouldn’t vote to advance Kari Lake or Doug Mastriano, Trump’s picks for ambassador to Jamaica and Slovakia, respectively, unless he receives firm reassurance that the administration will release funds set aside for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the HIV and AIDS program credited with saving millions of lives in poor countries.

Both nominations are expected to face a vote in the committee on Wednesday. But without assurance on PEPFAR funding from the Trump administration, Cornyn could singlehandedly block the two nominations if they otherwise receive party-line backing, as Republicans hold 12 seats on the committee to Democrats’ 10.

It’s the second time in less than a week that the four-term senator has bucked the White House in the wake of his Senate primary loss to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in May. Cornyn suffered a lopsided defeat that came after the president endorsed Paxton — to the chagrin of Senate GOP leadership.

He also clashed with Todd Blanche, Trump’s pick for attorney general, over the White House “anti-weaponization” fund during a senate confirmation hearing last week.

Asked about leveraging his vote in recent weeks to move the White House towards his preferred policies, Cornyn told Blue Light News, “It’s kind of fun.”

Semafor was the first to report Cornyn’s ultimatum on the nominees. The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lake and Mastriano both lost races for governor in 2022, in Arizona and Pennsylvania, respectively. They both took down more moderate Republicans in their respective primaries and earned the president’s favor by embracing his rhetoric regarding the 2020 election.

Lake subsequently ran for Senate in 2024, losing to Sen. Ruben Gallego even though Trump won Arizona that year by more than five points.

Cornyn is the latest Republican whose career Trump has effectively ended who’s since decided to turn the screws on the White House in recent months.

Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — have been in talks with the White House over what it would take for them to support advancing Blanche’s attorney general nomination to a full floor vote.

And Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who lost his Republican primary to Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow in June, will play a major role in deciding the fate of Erica Schwartz, the administration’s nominee for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two shared a tense exchange during her confirmation hearing last week.

Since Trump returned to office, Republicans have consistently pushed for cuts to the AIDS-prevention program created during the George W. Bush administration. The State Department cut over 100 contracts grants from PEPFAR last year as part of the efforts to curb government spending led by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, drawing criticism from Democratic lawmakers and even some Republican senators, who blocked $400 million allocated for PEPFAR from being clawed back in the White House’s $9 billion rescission package last year.

Last month, the State Department decided to begin winding down PEPFAR programming in South Africa to comply with Trump’s executive order directing U.S. agencies to stop the funding unless the African country took steps to prevent discrimination against its white Afrikaner minority.

Chris Marquette contributed to this report.

Congress

Rep. Cleo Fields announces he will not seek reelection

Published

3 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Cleo Fields (D-La.) has announced he will not seek reelection, choosing instead to run for state Senate in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act.

In a statement late Tuesday afternoon, Fields said he came to the decision after “a great deal of prayer and reflection.”

“I feel my calling to serve the people is better put to use back home than here in D.C., and I intend to answer that call,” said Fields, whose majority-Black district encompasses parts of Shreveport, Baton Rouge and Lafayette.

Fields’ announcement comes after the Louisiana state legislature in May passed a new map that eliminated his district following the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision, which ruled that the state’s second majority-Black district was an illegal racial gerrymander.

Fields condemned the Supreme Court’s April decision as “a grave setback to voting rights” as he pointed out that “minority candidates are rarely, if ever, elected from districts where they are not the majority, underscoring why fair districting remains essential to ensuring equal representation.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee on Monday identified Fields’ seat as one of its 2026 targets, adding to a list of more than 30 districts the committee has set its sights on.

The Callais ruling was not the first time Fields’ district, which he was first elected to represent in 1992 at the age of 29, was ruled unconstitutional; his district, then the 4th congressional district, was first found to be a racial gerrymander in 1996. That three-judge panel then implemented a new map which included just one majority Black district, after which Fields was elected to the Louisiana Senate. He didn’t return to Congress again until after his election in 2024.

Fields will now seek to fill the seat of state Sen. Larry Selders (D), who died on July 7.

Congress

Defense bill finally advances as House GOP steers rightward

Published

4 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sprawling Pentagon policy legislation advanced in the House on Tuesday, a turnaround after Republican infighting stalled the $1.15 trillion bill just weeks ago.

House Republicans are next set to push to attach numerous conservative amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act in a bid to solidify GOP support to pass the bill as soon as Wednesday. Most Democrats are expected to oppose the bill over its record price tag and President Donald Trump’s pursuit of the Iran war.

The narrow 214-211 procedural vote comes after a handful of Republican hard-liners in June voted to block the defense bill from coming to the House floor amid a dispute over election legislation backed by Trump.

Speaker Mike Johnson has since smoothed over the dispute with those hard-liners, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), over forcing the Senate to consider voter identification legislation that kept the House floor frozen for weeks. With Tuesday’s procedural vote, Republicans agreed to attach their overhaul, the SAVE America Act, to the defense bill when it passes. House Republicans have similarly attached the SAVE America Act to other major bills sent to the Senate this month.

The rule vote was held open as Johnson worked to sway some holdouts to advance the defense bill and several other measures. In the end, just one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, opposed advancing the bill after GOP leadership didn’t green-light his amendment to strip a provision that would bolster cooperation between the U.S. and Israel on military technology.

That’s not the only move GOP leaders are making to lock down conservative support for the defense bill.

Lawmakers will next plow through 320 amendments to the defense bill, some of which will steer the bill rightward if adopted.

The tranche includes several proposals that tap into a partisan fight over transgender people serving in the military, including Republican amendments to make permanent the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people serving openly in the military and to block funding for gender-affirming medical procedures through the military’s Tricare health system.

Lawmakers will also debate a GOP proposal requiring the Pentagon report on options for a potential cut to the civilian defense workforce of 200,000 employees. And Ukraine aid skeptics in the GOP were granted a vote to bar Pentagon funding to help arm the Ukrainian military as Russia’s invasion drags on.

Most Democratic amendments aimed at reining in the Trump administration and slashing spending were rejected by Republicans. That includes efforts to reduce the bill’s budget top line below $1 trillion and prohibit funding to continue the war against Iran.

Tuesday’s procedural vote also advanced several other major bills with defense implications. Republicans are also set to consider a budget blueprint meant to jump-start the party-line reconciliation process to fast-track $95 billion in additional spending, including $60 billion in defense funding to cover the costs of the Iran war.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee that vets bills before they head to the House floor, argued the combination of bills shows Trump and Republicans’ misplaced priorities. He called the war “another one of Donald Trump’s broken promises.”

“Does anyone think that’s made life better for the American people?” McGovern asked. “Maybe it’s made life better for defense contractors. Maybe for the crazy neocon warmongers that get a kick out of another war. But not for everyday people.”

House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) shot back that the GOP priorities “are not out of whack.”

“The number one role of the federal government is the defense of this nation,” Foxx said.

Congress

Ted Cruz casts doubt on Marsha Blackburn’s AI bill

Published

4 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz committed Tuesday to putting a kids online safety proposal from Sen. Marsha Blackburn on the agenda for his upcoming markup on artificial intelligence legislation — even as President Donald Trump holds off on giving the forthcoming bill his stamp of approval.

The Texas Republican also told reporters he “would expect to support” his colleague’s bill, but cast doubt on whether it could pass the full Senate.

“It’s not clear to me at all that there are 60 votes for it,” Cruz continued, “but I am happy to have a markup and see where the votes are.”

A spokesperson for Blackburn did not respond to a request for comment on her plans, but the Tennessee Republican in a statement Monday night pledged to continue building consensus to be able to move her legislation “by the end of the year.”

It comes after Cruz and Blackburn met with Trump in the Oval office Monday afternoon, where Blackburn presented some details of her yet-to-be-introduced package that is likely to pair her signature legislation, the Kids Online Safety Act, with some provisions pre-empting state AI laws — a bid to win the endorsement of the Trump administration.

Blackburn’s package also could include the NO FAKES Act — which would create new restrictions on AI deepfakes — and the Apps Store Accountability Act — which would require minors to obtain parental consent before downloading apps — according to a person granted anonymity to share private negotiations.

In that White House meeting, Cruz doubted the fate of the package in the Senate, the person said, and Trump did not make a commitment to give it his blessing.

It’s not also clear whether Blackburn will try to introduce a version of her bill in time for its consideration at the Senate Commerce markup tentatively scheduled for July 29. Per committee rules, Cruz must publish an advisory for any markup a week in advance — in this case Wednesday, assuming the late-July date holds — though changes to the lineup can be made the day-of.

As of Tuesday afternoon, staff for Commerce Committee Democrats said they hadn’t seen the final agenda but noted a lot can change in 24 hours. Republicans on the panel also said they have been largely in the dark: Sen. John Curtis of Utah, who recently introduced a bipartisan bill cracking down on AI chatbots that would go further than a similar proposal from Cruz, said he had not spoken to the chair nor did he have a sense of what might be on the agenda.

Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), another member of the Commerce Committee who works closely on AI legislation, also said he had not heard what’s on the agenda.