Congress

Financial Services Republicans approve CFPB cuts for GOP megabill

Published

11 months ago

May 1, 2025

House Financial Services Republicans approved legislation Wednesday that would slash funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and dissolve the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board into the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of the party-line, GOP megabill that is central to President Donald Trump’s agenda.

The panel voted along party lines, 30-22, to advance its portion of the GOP package, which is expected to include sweeping tax, energy and border policy changes. Financial Services Republicans say their section of the bill will produce more than the $1 billion in savings it was instructed to find.

The measure would slash the amount of funding the CFPB has access to by almost 60 percent. The bureau’s funding, which is derived from the Federal Reserve, would be capped at 5 percent of the central bank’s operating expenses under the proposal — down from the current limit of 12 percent.

The legislation would also dissolve the U.S.’s top audit regulator, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and fold it into the SEC.

Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) said at the markup that his committee “will do its part to reduce the deficit and decrease direct spending so that Congress can enact pro-growth tax policies.”

Democrats offered more than three dozen amendments that were shot down by Republicans throughout the nine-hour markup. They also put up procedural hurdles that slowed down the start of the meeting.

Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said Republicans on the committee were “co-signing” the Trump administration’s “destruction” by “helping Trump and co-president Elon Musk dismantle the agencies responsible for helping bring down costs,” including the CFPB.

Democrats offered an array of amendments aimed at bolstering the CFPB, which has been a longtime GOP target. They also offered provisions aimed at boosting the supply of affordable housing, protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve and targeting the Trump family’s crypto businesses.

“We are here because Donald Trump feels that he and Elon Musk are not rich enough, and we need to $4.5 trillion of tax cuts,” said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.). “They’ve realized politically that they can’t do that by cutting social security and defense, and all that’s left is massive cuts to everything else. And so … the dutiful soldiers are marching forward to cut the things that are subject to the jurisdiction of this committee.”

Republicans shot down every amendment along party lines, often saying they were not germane to the underlying bill. In order for this bill to be able to pass the Senate without Democratic votes through the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process, only policies that change spending or revenues can be included.

“The amendments are seeking to make policy changes that we simply cannot address today in this markup for reconciliation,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.). “Everything that we’re discussing and proposing in this bill has budgetary impacts, not policy impacts, and these budgetary impacts and savings are means to get our country back on track.”

Congress

Comer subpoenas Attorney General Pam Bondi over Epstein files

Published

17 minutes ago

March 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a subpoena to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday, demanding she testify before lawmakers over her handling of the Epstein files.

The move came after five Republicans on the committee joined their Democratic colleagues in supporting Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) motion to call on Bondi to testify earlier this month.

In a letter to Bondi, Comer wrote that “the Committee has questions regarding the Department of Justice’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates” and its compliance with a law passed by Congress last year compelling the DOJ to release the documents.

“As Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the Department’s collection, review, and determinations regarding the release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the Committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into these efforts,” he wrote.

Comer’s committee has subpoenaed former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton as a part of its ongoing investigation into Epstein, as well as other influential individuals named in the files.

Congress

House members to get classified briefing on expiring spy law

Published

32 minutes ago

March 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump administration officials will hold a classified briefing for House members Wednesday on the upcoming spy powers expiration, according to two people granted anonymity to announce the plans ahead of an announcement.

Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to hold a vote on an 18-month reauthorization of the surveillance authorities known as Section 702 next week, ahead of the April 20 expiration, but he’s facing down a potential rebellion from GOP hard-liners rebellion who want changes made to the spy law and to attach an unrelated elections bill.

House GOP leaders are arguing that the national security implications of the reauthorization are more important than ever given President Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran and the threats posed by the widening war in the Middle East.

The briefing is set for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The 18-month extension is likely to come direct to the floor next week without action first in the House Intelligence Committee, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter and a brief interview with panel Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark).

“I don’t think we’ll mark it up,” Crawford said — a decision that could further exacerbate the internal tensions between party leaders and the hard-right lawmakers who oppose a clean extension.

Congress

Democrats deliver latest DHS funding offer to White House

Published

4 hours ago

March 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats sent over their latest proposal for immigration enforcement changes at the Department of Homeland Security as a shutdown of the vast department drags into its second month.

The offer, confirmed by a White House official and two other people with knowledge of the matter, is the latest of several the two parties have traded since the funding lapse began Feb. 14. Little progress has been made since toward an agreement that would fund agencies including TSA, FEMA, ICE and the Coast Guard.

Democrats have vowed to block funding until the administration agrees to immigration enforcement changes in the wake of federal agents killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. Republicans, meanwhile, have rejected Democrats’ efforts to lop off immigration enforcement agencies and fund the rest of DHS.

The White House is “currently reviewing” the offer, the official said. But a top GOP aide immediately cast doubt of the seriousness of the proposal.

“It took 18 days for them to hit ‘Ctrl C’ and ‘Ctrl V,’” Ryan Wrasse, a spokesperson for Majority Leader John Thune wrote on X, referring to the copy-and-paste function on a personal computer.