Congress

Economic nerves emerge as House Republicans call it quits till Election Day

Published

17 minutes ago

September 18, 2026

House Republicans have left Washington for a seven-week pre-midterms recess — but not before showing some nerves about the rising cost of living heading into Election Day.

Several last-ditch attempts to tackle affordability concerns were on display this week: Seven Republicans broke party ranks and voted to rebuke the war in Iran launched by President Donald Trump. Other GOP members unsuccessfully sought an 11th-hour vote on suspending the federal gas tax. And one of the final House votes of the week was on a bill designed to curb utility costs related to data centers.

Many Republicans acknowledged the economic headwinds they are facing with the Iran conflict pushing gas and diesel prices to record territory in some parts of the country — plus growing anxiety about AI infrastructure increasing electric bills and a new Fed interest rate hike weighing on borrowing costs.

Among them was Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.), who said in an interview he is expecting a “close” election and understands why many of his GOP colleagues wanted more action.

“This is about the time where people start paying attention,” he said. “And there’s only so much you can control.”

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) warned Friday that “you can’t deny what people feel.”

“We make a mistake if we go and say the fundamentals of the economy are great — and they really are,” he said. “But that doesn’t help if you can’t afford gas or you can’t afford groceries or you can’t afford a new house.”

House GOP leaders, however, have been caught in a pickle: They acknowledge that Americans are feeling economic pain but they have been hamstrung in acting on those concerns by their thin majority, internal policy divides and Trump’s insistence that “affordability” is a Democratic “hoax.”

Rather than make law this summer, they have had to instead make excuses — blaming the Senate, congressional Democrats and Trump’s predecessor — while insisting some progress on prices has been made.

“We’ve been working with the president to make life more affordable for working families, and we’re not finished,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in a Thursday interview, calling the cost of living the “No. 1 issue in America.”

“There’s a lot more work to do, but … it’s easy to forget the mess that we inherited,” he continued. “As much as I’d like gas prices to be lower, they’re lower today than where they were at the peak under [President Joe Biden], and they’re going to get lower when Iran gets resolved.”

Speaker Mike Johnson said at a Wednesday news conference that Republicans are providing “answers” to the question of how to lower the costs of everyday goods.

“There are a lot of creative ideas,” he said. “Even this week, the Republicans are the ideas party, and we’re constantly coming up with new and innovative things to continue to work to bring down the cost of living and work on the affordability issue.”

Implementing those ideas, however, is another matter. A group of ultraconservative members led by Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland led the push to suspend the federal fuel tax — 18.4 cents per gallon of gas and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel — for the few months around Election Day.

“Enough is enough. Americans are paying more at the pump, and Washington shouldn’t be making it worse,” Harris said in a post on X.

Harris withheld his support on a key procedural vote to force a discussion around putting his bill on the floor, but it ran into opposition from fellow Republicans concerned about draining the main federal fund that finances highway projects. Many were also wary of exposing themselves to charges of hypocrisy: Some, including Harris, had previously opposed the idea under the Biden administration.

Later that day, seven Republicans voted for a Democratic resolution to rein in Trump’s authority over the conflict in Iran — three more than any previous Iran war powers vote. Two of them, Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, represent Iowa, where the agriculture industry has been hammered by spiking fuel prices.

“I will not vote to keep our soldiers in an open-ended war, with Iowans paying too much at the pump,” Miller-Meeks said in a statement after the vote. Later that day, another Iowan — Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for Senate — announced she would not join Vice President JD Vance at an in-state rally Friday, citing a scheduling conflict.

The third new GOP vote on the Iran measure, Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, also cited the “financial consequences” of the war in a BLN interview: “I voted my conscience.”

Mace, who is not returning to Congress next year after a failed bid for governor, was more blunt in comments to reporters at the Capitol, saying she believed the GOP would lose its majority in part due to the war.

“The midterms are going to be a fucking bloodbath,” she said.

GOP leaders did orchestrate an overwhelmingly bipartisan 417-3 vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act, which is aimed at ensuring data centers do not lead to higher overall utility costs — though many of its provisions are voluntary.

Still, Johnson touted its passage as a coup that would help voters feel some relief.

“Americans will not split the bill for the buildout of data centers or AI infrastructure anywhere in their communities,” Johnson said after the bill’s passage. “Notice how quiet Democrats are now that Republicans have taken action on all this.”

While almost every Democrat supported the bill, they are also calling it a fig leaf that is unlikely to materially improve the cost of living.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called it a “step forward” but that “more clearly needs to be done.” Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, blocked its swift passage in the Senate Thursday, calling for “real legislation with real teeth.”

“There are way stronger proposals, and I don’t really think that this one is going to come off as much of a win for the Republicans who are flailing to hold on,” said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in an interview.

Congress

Urgent motion filed to stop carving of Trump’s name into US Institute of Peace building

Published

8 hours ago

September 18, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Ousted board members of the U.S. Institute of Peace are asking a federal court to block the imminent carving of President Donald Trump’s name on the headquarters of the nonpartisan institution he sought to dismantle shortly after taking office.

Members of the board who were removed by the administration filed an emergency motion Thursday in Washington in a dispute that has echoes of Trump’s effort to place his name on the Kennedy Center.

The motion was filed as an emergency petition, alleging that a contractor has already been selected to carve Trump’s name into the Constitution Avenue headquarters that the administration sought to shutter as part of the Elon Musk-led DOGE effort to shrink the government.

The former board members said in their motion that they had asked Kenneth Jackson, the DOGE official serving as acting president of the USIP, to ensure the carving would not happen as they pursue litigation to preserve an independent nonprofit created by Congress under President Ronald Reagan to provide research and training aimed at promoting democracy around the world.

“The building — which was largely funded by private donations to USIP as a tax exempt nonprofit corporation — is a work of expressive architecture designed to be ‘symbolic of USIP’s’ independent ‘mission,’” the emergency motion said. “Alteration of the design to impose a different message would cause irreparable harm.”

Trump’s name was added to the exterior of the building in December, shortly before the president hosted a signing ceremony at the institute with the presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The bolted-on affixture is removable, and is featured next to the institute’s name, which is engraved into the facade.

The institute has been locked in a legal battle with the Trump administration as it hopes to reinstate its former president ousted by Trump last year. In May 2025, a federal judge ruled that the administration’s actions to dismantle the nonprofit was “unlawful” but the ruling was stayed by a federal appeals court panel a month later.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The USIP’s emergency motion comes days after Trump announced the Kennedy Center would be closing following a court ruling that blocked his name from being added to the building. Trump has threatened to tear down the center, and was seen on Wednesday viewing a large printout that appeared to say “Kennedy Center DEMOLISH.” The Kennedy Center, which USIP referred to in its motion, is seen as a bellwether for other institutions that Trump has sought to rebrand in his image.

“Notwithstanding the importance that the President and his supporters place on attaching his name to notable buildings,” the motion said, “Appellants will suffer no harm or prejudice whatsoever if they are precluded from carving the President’s name into the USIP building unless and until this litigation concludes in their favor.”

Congress

Republicans give Warsh room on interest rates

Published

13 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Federal Reserve just made congressional Republicans’ lives even harder in the run-up to the November midterm elections. But they’re holding their fire on Fed Chair Kevin Warsh.

The Fed this week hiked interest rates for the first time since Warsh took over as the central bank’s leader. The central bank’s unanimous decision to increase borrowing costs threatens to worsen the growing problems Republicans face around voters’ views of the economy and the high cost of living.

But some GOP lawmakers indicated they were relieved to see Warsh’s willingness to buck President Donald Trump after he faced withering criticism during his confirmation process from Democrats, who said he would do the president’s bidding in the role.

“The Fed has to be independent. They showed that they were independent,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican who is up for reelection. “That should give confidence to the markets.”

Republicans’ willingness to give Warsh room — despite its potential political downsides for them — highlights their deference to the new Fed chief.

“It’s not good,” said Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who lost a primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed opponent. “But it’s a fact that they need to get inflation under control. But the timing is not optimal.”

The decision to hike rates comes amid an uneasy dynamic where the Fed is taking action to tamp down rising inflation while Trump wants to see the economy boosted by cheaper borrowing costs. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, are caught between supporting Trump’s economic agenda and voicing confidence in Warsh’s ability to bring inflation under control.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a staunch supporter of the president who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, said that while she and Warsh “may have a different opinion on how we achieve a place where ultimately interest rates are low” and that she’d “love to see [lower rates],” she “trust[s] what [Warsh] is doing, and appreciate[s] the independence of the Fed.”

Warsh was tapped by Trump for the job in January with the hope that he would lower rates. However, since he was nominated, the U.S. entered into a conflict with Iran, high tariffs continued and gas prices soared, among other inflation and affordability concerns.

Trump-aligned lawmakers are cautioning against moving too aggressively to increase borrowing costs — but they are doing so gently.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said in an interview that Warsh is “under a tremendous amount of pressure,” pointing to other Fed officials’ support for a hike.

“I understand the concerns about inflation, but I do think there’s a significant component of inflation that will be addressed as we address the situation in the Middle East,” Hagerty said.

Congress

Senate Democrats press Hegseth for Iran war price tag

Published

15 hours ago

September 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Forty-six members of the Senate Democratic caucus are demanding that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provide a detailed accounting of the Iran war’s costs, arguing that the Pentagon has failed to explain how it has spent, and plans to spend, tens of billions of taxpayer dollars.

The letter, led by Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, was signed by every member of the Senate Democratic caucus except Sen. John Fetterman. Independent Sens. Bernie Sanders and Angus King, who caucus with Democrats, were also included.

The senators asked the Pentagon to provide a breakdown by Sept. 30 of all direct and indirect costs incurred to date in the conflict, as well as a breakdown of the administration’s $67 billion supplemental request. The senators also sought a detailed plan for how $34 billion of leftover funds allocated to the Pentagon in Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill will be spent.

The letter also requests that the department specify which portions of the requested funds are intended to reimburse past expenses, and which are meant for future operations.

“Despite asking for tens of billions of additional taxpayer dollars, you have so far failed to provide basic information on how this money has and will be spent,” the senators wrote. “Congress must have access to this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities. It is the bare minimum that any American would expect in balancing their own household budget.”

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The demand comes as the war enters its seventh month with no agreement to end the conflict. On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office said the conflict would reach about $2 billion to $3 billion a month, noting that the first five months cost the U.S. $38 billion — the most comprehensive look at the conflict ahead of the midterm elections.

Fetterman has repeatedly broken with his party over the conflict, supporting President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran in February and voting against a measure seeking to limit Trump’s war powers. His distance from Democrats was underscored last week when he made a surprise video appearance at Trump’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas.

Fetterman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.