Congress

Democrats plan a different kind of response to Trump’s big speech

Published

1 year ago

March 3, 2025

President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday for the first time in five years. Democrats are determined not to make their response all about him.

That might come as a surprise for those who remember what ensued during Trump’s first term. His congressional addresses became a prominent stage for the Democratic resistance, with lawmakers booing, chanting and walking out at times. Many chose outfits and invited guests to make a point. Most famously, in 2020, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up a copy of Trump’s speech while seated directly behind him on the dais.

This time, many Democrats are signaling they’ll take a less pugilistic stance — the latest sign that the party is still coming to terms with how to confront the president, even as the party base grows increasingly restless.

“In 2017, a lot of us felt like Donald Trump was an anomaly. In 2025, he won the election. Everybody knows who he is. He said what he was going to do, and the country still voted for him, so I think we have to be very strategic as Democrats,” said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.).

That strategy, 10 Democratic lawmakers said in interviews, is to use the speech to focus on the impacts of Trump’s second-term policies. Some are bringing guests to highlight the Trump administration’s radical overhaul of the federal bureaucracy, including union leaders, laid-off government workers and others affected by the federal funding freeze.

“Just a protest isn’t going to win us the next election,” Bera said. “Instead, we should say, ‘Look, that’s what he’s doing.’”

Several Democrats said they were just as interested in highlighting the cuts implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency, run by billionaire hatchet man Elon Musk, as they were in shining a light on Trump himself.

In fact, private guidance sent to Democratic lawmakers and obtained by Blue Light News urged them to coalesce around a message that “Democrats are on the side of the American people while Trump and Republicans in Congress stand with Elon Musk and billionaire donors.” They are also being urged to “bring a guest who has been harmed by the Trump administration’s early actions or will be hurt by the House Republican budget.”

Notably, there does not appear to be a mass Democratic boycott of Trump’s speech in the works, as there was in past years. Rather than skip the speech, some Democrats said they wanted to show that Trump faces opposition — the image of seated, stern-faced Democrats while Republicans stand and cheer. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said it was important that the viewing public “sees a significant presence of us there.”

It’s not a universal sentiment. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who represents a substantial population of federal employees in his suburban district just outside Washington, said he’ll skip the speech after attending addresses during Trump’s first term.

“The notion of half my colleagues rising and standing and enormous clapping for … things that I think are terrible for the American people every couple minutes will not be funny,” he said. “I don’t see that I’ll contribute anything to the event.”

Tuesday’s speech is not technically a State of the Union, but it will go off with much of the same pomp and circumstance. Trump is widely expected to use the speech as a theatrical spectacle not only to show off his overhaul of the federal government and his dismantling of Democratic priorities but to create viral moments that will delight his MAGA base. (In 2020, for instance, he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to talk show host Rush Limbaugh live from the rostrum.)

Democratic leaders are indicating they will not take the bait as they try to keep the focus on Trump’s policies and the cost of living. They chose Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan to deliver the party’s official response — a lawmaker who ran a disciplined campaign last year focusing on economic issues and won a state where Trump also prevailed.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) has been tapped to give a Spanish-language response, with party leaders signaling that he, too, could be discussing economic issues. The progressive Working Families Party has Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) delivering a separate left-flank rebuttal.

Asked about the speech, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday that Trump needed to answer the questions: “Why has he failed to do anything to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America, and why has the Trump administration unleashed far-right extremism on the American people in a way that represents an assault on the American way of life?”

Large-scale disruption is still unlikely. Some lawmakers have privately discussed walking out as an entire caucus during the speech or wearing pink hats in protest, but there’s less enthusiasm for such demonstrations than in past years.

That’s not to say lawmakers aren’t upset. Many Democrats are still figuring out how to channel their anger with Trump over lingering memories of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and fresher emotions over his pardons of the rioters, along with the president’s continued dismantling of cherished federal programs.

“He’s so much more abusive, but my job is to be there,” said Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.), who is bringing as her guest a fire chief from her southern California district to highlight planned FEMA cuts.

One more conspicuous gesture of protest will come from members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, which will be making a statement with their choice of clothing, according to Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), the group’s chair. It’s a reprise of a gesture they employed during the first Trump term, when they wore white to honor suffragettes.

“Women across this country are furious,” she said. “And so I think we’re going to bring that fury to the State of the Union in creative ways, and we’re going to make sure that Trump knows and that Americans who are watching understand Trump’s America.”

At least one prominent Trump antagonist could be among them: Pelosi plans to attend, according to a spokesperson.

Congress

Some GOP senators are still grappling with the Todd Blanche nomination

Published

7 hours ago

August 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans are hopeful they will be able to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general by the end of the week. But he’s not in the clear yet, as several undecided GOP senators continue to mull it over.

Blanche’s prospects were nonetheless much improved Monday — less than 24 hours after some GOP senators were predicting he was unlikely to get confirmed as a war of words escalated between President Donald Trump and holdout Republicans.

But then Blanche cut a deal with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) late Sunday night to clarify a controversial settlement between Trump and the IRS, giving Blanche the votes he needed to get through the Judiciary Committee Tuesday.

He still needs to get through the full Senate, where he can only lose two Republican votes given likely unified opposition from Senate Democrats and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s absence.

Several GOP senators who raised alarms last week about Trump’s public threats to rekindle the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” Cornyn and Tillis worked to kill declined to say Monday how they’d vote on Blanche.But in a positive sign for the acting attorney general, several are looking to Tillis and Cornyn, who are now supporting him, as a lodestar for their own deliberations ahead of likely floor votes later this week.

“I think certainly the fact that he has signed this order, basically disbanding [the fund] — that’s a pretty good step,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), before adding that she would “like to find out a little bit more about the negotiations.”

Murkowski said she plans to speak with Tillis and Cornyn.

“I’m curious about what went on over the weekend,” she said.

Blanche has made efforts to ingratiate himself with Murkowski. In July, he trekked to Alaska, in part at Murkowski’s urging, to better understand public safety and tribal jurisdiction matters. He recently announced a nine-figure settlement benefiting Alaska natives’ health care that Murkowski was pleased with.

“I just appreciated the fact that he went to the state,” Murkowski said. “He was only there for two days, but I had asked him in my initial meeting to go up to the state.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who like Cornyn lost his primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed challenger, declined to discuss Blanche Monday. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) added that she also wanted to talk to Tillis and Cornyn and read the agreement they struck with Blanche.

“Until I do that, I am not going to make a judgement,” Collins said.

Another Republican who hasn’t yet committed to supporting Blanche is Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah). He met with Blanche last week but hasn’t yet weighed in since Sunday night’s agreement. He had indicated before Sunday’s deal that he would be closely tracking Tillis and Cornyn during Tuesday’s Judiciary Committee meeting.

Getting Blanche’s nomination on a trajectory to pass the Senate this week would relieve some of the pressure on Senate Republicans, who are juggling a long to-do list and a shrinking runway to get it done. Trump, amid last week’s standoff, demanded that Senate Republicans confirm Blanche, including warning during a Cabinet meeting that they “will never get anybody like him.”

Tillis told reporters Monday that “the back-and-forth over the weekend was not helpful” but that the talks “ended up at an acceptable place.”

If Blanche gets out of the Judiciary Committee Tuesday as expected, the soonest the Senate could confirm him as attorney general is Saturday unless Democrats unanimously agree to help speed up a final vote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday that he’s hopeful the Senate will be able to confirm Blanche but didn’t give an ironclad guarantee as the remaining undecided members review the agreement and talk to Tillis and Cornyn.

“I’d like to figure out a way, a path forward to get him done,” Thune said.

Democrats are likely to use Tuesday’s Judiciary Committee meeting, and the days leading up to a full Senate vote, to hammer Republicans over the deal Cornyn and Tillis struck. Many predicted Monday that Trump wouldn’t stick by the agreement that limits the scope of the IRS settlement and nullifies the $1.8 billion payout fund.

“There are so many loopholes. I wouldn’t be surprised if the president went ahead with the program,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) warned the remaining undecided Republicans about the deal: “I don’t think that that commitment is worth what it’s written on.”

While Democrats can drag Blanche’s confirmation into the weekend, they aren’t able to prevent him from being confirmed if at least 50 GOP senators support him. But they are determined to use the debate to hit at one of their central midterm campaign messages — corruption — with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling Blanche the “architect of Trump’s grifts.”

Tillis suggested Monday he still has questions about who in Trump’s orbit played a role in the roller coaster negotiations over the past week. While the retiring senator is prepared to support Blanche, he said that he’s “not done analyzing the anatomy of this deal and who played a role in there.”

“I’m not going to speak for other members, but I think that it’ll be a solid vote,” he added about Blanche’s chances of being confirmed.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who appeared skeptical during a Sunday morning talk show interview that Blanche would get through the Senate, did a 180 Monday when asked whether he would get confirmed: “Yes, I do.”

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

‘He should quit’: Republican senators sound alarms about Max Miller accusations

Published

8 hours ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Multiple Senate Republicans joined Sen. Bernie Moreno in calling for Rep. Max Miller to step down from office Monday amid domestic abuse allegations from the Ohio senator’s daughter.

Bernie Moreno — father of Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno — said in a statement Sunday that Miller should not serve in the House soon after the House Republican did a livestream video attempting to defend himself from abuse accusations.

Many of Bernie Moreno’s GOP colleagues were quick to back him following the statement.

“I don’t know [Miller]. I haven’t read a whole lot about him, but if [Moreno] thinks he ought to resign, I’m supportive of that,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said in an interview.

Miller has denied the allegations, which include pouring hot water on his ex-wife and holding a gun to her head. He has also denied accusations from his ex-wife that he broke his daughter’s collarbone.

Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas condemned Miller, adding, “He should resign. He should quit.”

“I don’t know Mr. Miller’s story, but I trust Bernie so much as a good friend, and his family has such high values,” Marshall said in an interview. “I couldn’t imagine them wanting this out in public. So to go through with this, it makes me think that they’re telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

The surge of support from Bernie Moreno’s Senate colleagues marks the first significant crack in a wall of GOP silence regarding the allegations against Miller. The skepticism from Miller’s own party will almost certainly weigh down the congressman’s already floundering campaign as he battles Democratic candidate Brian Poindexter to keep his Cleveland-area House seat.

Miller has until Wednesday to withdraw from the ballot and allow a crash primary to select a replacement.

Some Republican lawmakers stopped short of calling on Miller to withdraw or resign while expressing grave concern about the allegations.

“The accusations are very serious, and if there is truth to them, I am one who says that our elected officials need to be held to high standards,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said. “And certainly, when it comes to allegations of domestic abuse, child abuse, that’s not what we want in our lawmakers.”

A spokesperson for Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In response to Moreno’s statement, Miller said on Sunday, “If my daughter said the same thing to me, I personally wouldn’t wait two years before holding him accountable.”

“You know this isn’t true and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus,” he added in the post on X.

Notably still silent was GOP Sen. Jon Husted, Ohio’s other senator, who while leaving the Capitol Monday did not respond to reporters’ questions about whether Miller should resign.

Other Republicans in the Ohio House delegation are also staying quiet for now. Almost every House Republican from the state either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment on Moreno’s statement.

The exception was Rep. Jim Jordan, who brushed off questions in a Thursday CNN interview about Miller but noted he was “a good man” and was recently campaigning for him.

Asked Monday if Miller should still serve in Congress following Bernie Moreno’s statement, spokesperson for Jordan Stefanie Farrell said, “As Mr. Jordan has said, it’s up to the voters of Ohio’s 7th District.”

Back in the Senate, other Republicans who were unaware of the situation declined to weigh in on the incident.

“I am not aware of the situation, so I don’t have a comment right now,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has been a leading GOP voice on domestic violence issues within the military.

But a steady drip of Republican senators said Monday evening they trusted Bernie Moreno.“It would surprise me if Bernie were being untruthful,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said. “I guess I was surprised that it bubbled up to the public sphere, but I suspect that Bernie has got a beat on the situation.”

Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia said he was unaware of the details of the allegations but that “Bernie’s a pretty level-headed guy.”

“I don’t know enough about the allegations, but like Bernie said, it sounds like he thinks he needs psychological help,” Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said, adding, “I trust Bernie.”

Chris Marquette contributed to this report.

Congress

Budget Republicans to meet

Published

9 hours ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Budget Committee Republicans will meet Tuesday morning to talk about advancing a fiscal blueprint for a new party-line spending bill.

Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) declined to say , in an interview Monday if he plans to introduce a resolution this week, noting that he was “working with leadership” and that the “first priority” is to pass a stopgap spending bill. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a panel member, said he didn’t expect the Senate to take up a budget resolution this week because “I don’t think my leadership wants to do it.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t ruled out taking up a budget resolution but has been frank about the challenges it faces among GOP senators.