Congress

Crypto regulatory text expected to be released Thursday does not have Senate Democrat support

Published

1 day ago

July 16, 2026

Senators are planning to release the updated text of a cryptocurrency regulatory bill shortly after a meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) told reporters.

Democratic senators are not expected to attend the meeting. Several Democrats said they wouldn’t support the version of the bill that could be released Thursday, suggesting it faces steep odds for passage.

Negotiations on the Clarity Act have gone back and forth for the better part of the past year. A major unresolved issue involves an ethics provision seeking to address Trump’s business ties to the crypto industry. The measure is a requirement for Senate Democrats, whose support is necessary to pass the bill through the chamber.

“We’ll do that right after the meeting,” Moreno said. “You guys have a lot of reading to do.”

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who is also expected to attend the meeting, said in an interview Thursday she “certainly hopes” draft text is released after speaking with the president but didn’t confirm.

Moreno pointed to the time spent meeting with Democrats on the bill over the past year, and said “it’s time for a vote now, but the president asked for a briefing.”

The Ohio Republican said one of his main goals of the meeting with Trump is to get a vote on the bill before August recess.

Several Democrats said they wouldn’t support the version of the bill set for release Thursday because it lacks strong ethics provisions.

“They’re taking a version of the text to the president with their ethics provisions, not with anything that we agree to as Democrats,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a key negotiator of the legislation, said in an interview Thursday. “At the end of the day, we don’t have strong ethics. I don’t care what the president says. You’re not going to have the Democratic votes.”

Gallego said the version of ethics language he’s seen so far is “very weak” and gives “a lot of latitude to the president to continue doing his grift, and also it’s not very consumer protection friendly.”

Moreno has been adamant that the crypto bill “has the strongest ethics provision of any piece of legislation ever passed by any Congress.”

A Democratic Senate aide granted anonymity to discuss the unreleased draft said “the Republican plan being presented to the president is weaker than what Democrats will accept” and that “Democrats have not seen nor agreed to what is being presented to the White House.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who has been working on the CFTC portion of the bill, said in an interview he’s still in active negotiations on the bill, which aren’t expected to be finished Thursday.

“I hope they’re not going to drop something before we finish our negotiation,” Booker said. “The only way to get this done is a bipartisan pathway.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego’s party affiliation.

Congress

House GOP releases bill to fund government until after the midterm elections

Published

3 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House GOP leaders released text Friday for a bill to fund the vast majority of the federal government from the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1 until after the midterm elections — bypassing the bipartisan appropriations process and daring Democrats to pick a shutdown fight months before voters head to the polls.

Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he plans to put the legislation on the floor next week.

The measure would fund the government through Dec. 4 and, as Republican leaders promised, would not include additional policy riders or unrelated provisions.

The text released Friday also does not include President Donald Trump’s top policy priority, the partisan elections overhaul and voter ID measure dubbed the SAVE America Act.

Congress

Alan Dershowitz cancels on House Oversight ahead of planned Epstein interview

Published

5 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School who worked to craft the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, will not appear before the House Oversight Committee for his scheduled transcribed interview Monday, according to two committee aides granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Lawyers for Dershowitz told the Oversight panel he would not show up as planned and the committee has reached out to Dershowitz’s team to put another meeting on the schedule, said one of the aides.

Dershowitz is a well-known criminal defense attorney who has represented high profile clients such as President Donald Trump and O.J. Simpson. Many have contended Dershowitz’s work to get Epstein the plea deal in Florida allowed him to continue victimizing young women and girls for years until his subsequent arrest and suicide in prison in 2019.

The Oversight Committee continues to interview people tied up in Epstein’s web as part of its ongoing investigation. Jes Staley, a former JPMorganChase and Barclays executive, is set to sit for an interview with the panel July 23. The committee is also scheduled to have billionaire investor Leon Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management, appear for a videotaped deposition Sept. 3 that will be conducted under oath.

Dershowitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress

How one moderate Democratic leader is bracing for Israel politics in the next Congress

Published

5 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Brad Schneider, the leader of the House’s centrist New Democrat Coalition, is trying to understand how his party became so divided on Israel.

Earlier this week, over 100 House Democrats voted for a Republican-authored amendment to a State Department funding bill that would have cut Israel off from U.S. aid. That amendment failed amid near-unified GOP opposition, but progressives celebrated the Wednesday vote as a seismic victory, saying the break with Israel was born out of years of fury inside the Democratic base over Israel’s treatment of Palestine and, more recently, its handling of the war in Gaza.

In the aftermath, Schneider, a pro-Israel Illinois Democrat, said he is searching for an explanation for how a “hastily crafted, cynically introduced” legislative proposal to cut humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza generated support among his own peers, who have largely supported the longtime ally.

Yet even as hard-left candidates topple incumbents around the country, an Israel-critical bloc of House Democrats will be more powerful than ever next term — and Schneider insisted in a Thursday interview that his party can unite on the fractious issue.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

On Democrats ultimately having similar goals: The goal in the Middle East in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to get security, stability, dignity and a holy peace for the people in Israel, in Gaza, the West Bank, in the whole Middle East. … What can we do that will advance peace? And what can we stop doing that has allowed the status quo? I think for many people, that was their intention in how they were voting.

How do we get to a place where members of Congress are sharing a common purpose and advancing peace for the region, recognizing Israel’s need for security as a Jewish, democratic state, recognizing Palestinian rights and their aspirations for sovereignty and a state of their own one day that’s living side by side in peace with Israel, not threatening Israel but providing a future for Palestinian children?

On Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries voting against the amendment, while Minority Whip Katherine Clark voted in favor — and members being left to make their own decisions: I don’t think you’ll see cynical amendments [in a Democratic majority]. I expect what you’ll see is us … working on advancing the interests of American voters. … I think to do that, we need to work together, and leadership has to be coordinated and speaking in one voice.

… Hakeem Jeffries has kept the Democrats united. We have been able to legislate from the minority … and where there’s times and differences, he’s allowed those to be reflected without festering or ultimately tearing apart the caucus. I think next year [if Democrats win the House] you’ll see that leadership take a step up to the next level. There’s a difference between being minority leader and majority speaker.

On whether Democrats can find consensus next term with the influx of hard-left new members: I suspect we will not get unanimity. … I think where Democrats almost universally come down is how do we make the world safer, more secure for Americans and for our allies around the world.

On whether Israel’s divisive prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has pushed Democrats leftward: Netanyahu is not popular. I’m not a fan personally myself. I think it’s more than just Netanyahu. … They have to address the settler violence in the West Bank. I will always be committed to Israel’s security and safety. I believe addressing settler violence is critical for that.

On more Democrats disavowing money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: Members will do what they want. I’d like to see members doing more to advance peace rather than advancing their own personal careers.