Congress

Election season is almost here. Congress is rushing to legislate first.

Published

5 months ago

May 18, 2026

As Republicans and Democrats prepare to battle each other for control of the House and Senate, they are also scrambling to pass legislative priorities that require working together — a tall order after months of bitter infighting.

Before members depart for a Memorial Day recess, the House GOP majority will try this week to ram through a party-line immigration enforcement package but also attempt to pass bipartisan housing affordability legislation and a bill that would revamp college athletics regulations.

Senate Republicans, when not moving the filibuster-skirting immigration bill through their own chamber, are also expected to be conferring with Democratic counterparts on bipartisan deals around a companion college athletics proposal and a framework for overhauling the federal permitting process for energy projects. There’s continued discussion on how to resolve differences on legislation that would fundamentally change how digital assets are regulated after the so-called Clarity Act advanced out of the Senate Banking Committee last week following House passage last summer.

And Rep. Jason Smith of House Ways and Means and Sen. Mike Lee of Senate Energy and Natural Resources, two of the most notoriously partisan committee chairs, struck conciliatory tones in recent days about their desire to work with Democrats on a framework for the taxation of cryptocurrency and streamlining energy permitting, respectively.

There’s also a desire for collaboration not just between the parties but between Republican-led chambers, too — a sentiment GOP senators shared with Speaker Mike Johnson last week when he crossed the Capitol to attend the Senate Republicans’ weekly closed-door luncheon.

“Let’s be working on things” was the message Senate Republicans conveyed to Johnson, according to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “Progress on things like that are good.”

Johnson, in an interview later, called the meeting “a great visit” where “we talked about how the two chambers can and should work closely together. We’re committed to that.”

Interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers revealed a genuine interest in making progress on long-stalled measures in the few short months before the home stretch of midterm campaigning begins. Members of both parties also see passing legislation as critical to combating a narrative with voters that Capitol Hill is mired in all-time political dysfunction and lack of productivity.

“I believe in bipartisan work,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). “But it has been my experience that the closer you get to an election, the harder it is to get that kind of work done.”

Despite the happy talk amid the rapidly closing window for legislative action, however, real challenges and a lack of trust remain. The latest curve ball: President Donald Trump’s social media post over the weekend proposing Republicans wedge a partisan election security bill into the pending housing affordability package or a reauthorization of a key spy authority.

Even before that demand, however, Johnson — who often finds himself trying to cater to his most conservative members to move bills on the House floor — was threatening to blow up bipartisan and bicameral negotiations on the housing bill, which the GOP sees as central to its midterm message on lowering costs for everyday Americans. The speaker has said he plans to put the measure on the floor this week and allow his members to vote on policy changes Senate Republicans and the White House warn they can’t accept.

Johnson is also negotiating changes to the college athletics bill known as the SCORE Act. That’s to appease hard-liners who have issues with provisions in the bill relating to scholarships for international students, among other things. Already, some tweaks were made to woo Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a former holdout.

“We don’t know the status of the overall bill. It really just depends on what Speaker Chip Roy says we can do,” quipped Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama, one of the Democrats who has been working on the legislation that would set new standards for how college athletes are paid.

Trump has made it clear he wants to see passage of the SCORE Act, saying in recent months he’ll use his executive authority to enforce a set of rules surrounding eligibility, transfers and compensation in college sports that aim to protect college athletes.

Lawmakers also said in interviews this week that there are bipartisan talks underway about a reauthorization of a landmark public lands package known as the Great American Outdoors Act, a regulatory framework governing the use of artificial intelligenceand a bill to boost American manufacturing.

Smith, of Missouri, told attendeesof a tax conference Thursday that the Ways and Means panel can “do things on health care, trade and tax from a bipartisan perspective, and I intend to do that in the next few months.”

Lee, of Utah, in a recent interview said there was “a lot of shared interest” in a permitting deal and that lawmakers are exchanging drafts with hopes of releasing bill text in the coming weeks.

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), meanwhile, emphasized there’s also a list of must-pass bills that can’t be ignored. That includes the government funding bills, the farm bill and a surface transportation bill.

The House passed its first appropriations bill last week to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs in an encouraging 400-15 vote, but other funding bills won’t be so easy. It also passed its version of the farm bill earlier in the month alongside a separate measure to allow year-round sales of a gasoline blend known as E15, which a Senate GOP aide last week called a “nonstarter.”

“All of them have to be done,” Lankford said. “This is not a ‘pick your favorite child.’ … Whatever we can get on first and get going, we need to get going on it.”

Mia McCarthy and Brian Faler contributed to this report.

Congress

NRSC takes on $20M in loans

Published

10 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans’ campaign arm took out $20 million in loans in September, a significant cash infusion as the party looks to fight an increasingly challenging map ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee incurred a $17 million loan on Sep. 1 and another $3 million on Sep. 22, according to a filing submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.

The need for cash comes after months of the NRSC and other GOP groups boasting about their large cash advantage over Democrats, as the party floods the airwaves in an effort to win core battlegrounds in an unfavorable environment.

The organization framed the loan as part of continuing that cash advantage.

“The NRSC has raised record-breaking resources, consistently maintained one of the lowest burn rates across all committees, and furthered the efficacy of every dollar by immediately acting on the fall of unlimited coordinated spending with our candidates,” NRSC communications director Joanna Rodriguez said in a statement. “We’re going to throw everything we can at protecting our Republican Senate Majority, and we’re going to win.”

It’s not unusual for campaign arms to take out loans late in an election cycle. In 2024, the NRSC took out $17 million in loans, and it borrowed $20 million during the 2022 cycle as well, according to FEC reports.

The NRSC has raised $228 million this cycle compared to $188 million for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but Democratic Senate candidates have far outraised Republican ones.

The NRSC had $28 million in the bank, including the loan, at the end of September after raising $31 million and spending $41 million in the month, although a slight majority of the funds raised — $18 million — came via transfers from the Republican National Committee.

The DSCC, by comparison, ended September with just under $25 million in the bank. It had not taken out any loans this cycle as of that point.

Unlike past cycles, political parties can now more freely pay for advertising in coordination with candidates — and at a much cheaper rate. That will allow the party to stretch the $20 million further than in past election cycles.

In September, the NRSC put just under $34 million into coordinated spending, all of it on advertising, according to the Tuesday FEC filing.

Congress

Senate Democrats start spending in Mississippi

Published

15 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats’ money machine is on its way to Mississippi.

Senate Majority PAC is putting an initial $1.2 million on television statewide through Election Day to boost Scott Colom, the group announced Tuesday — another plunge into deep-red territory for Democrats as they take advantage of a dismal environment for Republicans.

Colom, a local prosecutor, has gained on GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in recent public polling, and has started to gain the attention of national Democrats. Some Senators, including Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, have pushed for more party investment in the race, which they believe in the right environment could flip a traditionally red seat.

But until now, Democrats said their resources were stretched too thin across a widening map that would allow them to play in the Magnolia State.

SMP is launching its first ad Wednesday attacking Hyde-Smith as a “do-nothing” senator and is planning a digital program as well. Lauren French, a spokesperson for SMP, said in a statement that “it is clear Colom is running a competitive race that has put Hyde-Smith on her heels.”

Hyde-Smith’s campaign downplayed the race’s competitiveness while tying Colom to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“It took Chuck Schumer and his Super PACs thirteen months to run a single ad for Scott Colom,” Hyde-Smith campaign spokesperson Nathan Calvert said in a statement. “Chuck knows what Mississippians know, Scott Colom is too liberal, supports transgender surgeries for children, men in women’s restrooms and locker rooms, open borders, and higher taxes. Team Cindy is confident that voters will reject this radical agenda at the ballot box on November 3rd.”

Colom’s campaign didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Other national Democrats have started paying attention to the race too, with several set to descend on Mississippi ahead of Election Day. Former Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign alongside Colom later this week, and former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg will hit the trail next week.

The state has the highest proportion of Black people in the nation, giving Democrats a high base of support in most elections — and has long left Democrats dreaming they could win statewide, having invested some resources in recent Senate and governor’s races over the past decade. Hyde-Smith did not top 55% of the vote in either of her previous elections, and Colom has seized on an interview clip when she was asked about the high price of beef: “You know, you have so many proteins to choose from.”.

Still, despite the overall positive environment for the party, flipping the seat remains a steep uphill battle. Republicans control all levers of state government, and Trump handily won by 24 points in 2024. The last time Mississippians elected a Democrat statewide was 2015, and the last time the state sent a Democrat to the Senate was 1982.

SMP’s investment in Mississippi follows multimillion-dollar dives into Kansas and Texas that collectively show how far the Senate map has shifted onto red turf in the midterm’s closing weeks. The Chuck Schumer-aligned group has also cut back on spending on television in North Carolina and Georgia in recent weeks amid increasingly bullish outlooks for Democrats Roy Cooper and Sen. Jon Ossoff, respectively.

Congress

DCCC launches ads against Mike Turner in red Ohio district

Published

24 hours ago

October 20, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Democrats’ campaign arm is launching its first ad buy against seven-term GOP Rep. Mike Turner in his western Ohio district as they seek to turn up the pressure on Republicans in once-safe red seats.

The DCCC is dropping separate six-figure buys on two coordinated television ads boosting challenger Kristina Knickerbocker, spokesperson Riya Vashi said — a remarkable investment considering Turner won in 2024 by over 18 percentage points, overperforming President Donald Trump.

Ohio adopted a new redistricted congressional map last year that was expected to favor Republicans. Turner’s 10th District voted for Trump by 6 points in 2024; under the new lines it would have been closer to 8 points.

The first ad airing this week opens with a woman saying, “It’s time we had someone in Congress who actually stands up for us” as Knickerbocker jogs through a neighborhood.

Democrats are eyeing Turner’s Dayton-area seat as a reach opportunity. A new internal DCCC poll of 535 likely general election voters reviewed by Blue Light News shows Knickerbocker running three percentage points ahead of Turner. Polling from this summer showed Turner leading the race.

Another Democratic group, House Majority PAC, has already poured more than a million dollars into the race against Turner and has reservations planned through Nov. 3. Knickerbocker is not on the DCCC’s “Red to Blue” roster of candidates who get the bulk of its resources.

“Alarm bells should be ringing for Mike Turner,” Vashi said in a statement. “Kristina Knickerbocker has the momentum in this race, and the DCCC will make sure every voter in this district knows exactly how Turner has betrayed them.”

But the NRCC has been spending in the district for several weeks to boost Turner. House Republican campaign operatives are so far dismissing efforts to flip the seat.

NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon called Turner “a life-long Ohioan who has a record of cutting taxes, lowering costs, and making Ohio streets safer.”

“While Congressman Turner delivers commonsense conservative wins, out of touch Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker supports a radical far-left agenda,” Bannon said. “This November, Ohioans will reject liberal Knickerbocker and send Congressman Mike Turner back to Congress.”