Congress

Former SEC commissioner Atkins emerges as a top contender for chair

Published

2 years ago

November 27, 2024

Paul Atkins, a veteran regulator and influential voice on financial policy, is emerging as a leading candidate to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission under President-elect Donald Trump, according to four people familiar with the transition.

No final decision has been made, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations. But Atkins was recently invited to interview with Trump, one of the people said. Trump is expected to announce his pick for Wall Street’s top regulator soon.

Others whose names have been floated for SEC chair include Brian Brooks, the one-time acting comptroller of the currency, and former SEC General Counsel Robert Stebbins.

Atkins, if picked and confirmed, would rejoin the SEC after a 16-year hiatus from the agency. He served as a commissioner from 2002 to 2008, a tenure that began shortly after the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals and ended just before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Atkins has since led his consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, whose clients have included banks, cryptocurrency companies and financial trading firms.

Atkins, Patomak and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Wall Street has eagerly awaited Trump’s pick for SEC chair since his election this month. The agency has pursued a sweeping and controversial agenda under its current chair, Gary Gensler, spurring a backlash from the financial industry and the cryptocurrency lobby. But Trump’s choice for the SEC is expected to pursue a lighter-touch approach to overseeing financial firms and the markets.

The next SEC chair will also be tasked with helping to hammer out the regulation of the $3 trillion crypto market. The SEC has argued that much of crypto falls under its remit, but the industry has protested — saying that digital asset trading needs more express rules from Congress.

In April, Atkins, while speaking at a Federalist Society event, called the lack of clear regulations around crypto a “fundamental underlying issue” that the SEC needs to address.

The SEC is expected to have only three members of its five-person commission in place when Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Last week, both Gensler and Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga, a fellow Democrat, announced their plans to step down on Jan. 20 and Jan. 17, respectively.

Bloomberg News earlier reported that Trump’s team was considering Atkins for SEC chair.

Congress

Congressional Black Caucus members break with Jeffries, endorse against Thanedar in Michigan House race

Published

29 minutes ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A handful of members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Monday broke with Democratic Party leadership to endorse Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney in his bid to primary Rep. Shri Thanedar, an unusual move given that sitting members of the same party rarely endorse against each other.

Democratic Reps. Steven Horsford (Nev.), the former chair of the CBC, and Lateefah Simon (Calif.) called McKinney a “fighter.” Rep. Ilhan Omar (Mich.) praised McKinney as “the only trusted candidate” in the race. And Rep. Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) touted McKinney for “never [losing] sight of the people.”

“We need Donavan in Congress,” said Pressley.

The race between McKinney and Thanedar, who was elected in 2022, is the latest battleground in the ongoing ideological clash between the Democratic establishment and its progressive flank.

McKinney is hoping to capitalize on the latest wave of progressive successes in primaries, but Thanedar retains the power of the incumbency — and the backing of House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar.

Thanedar’s 2022 election marked the first time since 1955 that the majority-Black city of Detroit didn’t have a Black lawmaker representing it in Congress. And he won two years ago only after Adam Hollier, who was viewed as his most credible primary challenger, was disqualified from the ballot.

“It’s not just about having Black representation, but that is a part of what appropriate representation looks for,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), who had previously backed McKinney, told Blue Light News. “You have a majority-Black district, and I think that there is certainly an appetite to see that again, or to at least make sure that a Black candidate has the opportunity to present themselves.”

In a phone call, Thanedar emphasized that he has worked closely with members of the CBC during his time in office, noting that the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) was a mentor of his and, in addition to Jeffries, he has the endorsement CBC members like Rep. Bennie Thomspon (D-Miss.).

“I am fully aware that I am representing the Blackest city in America and I’m proud of it,” Thanedar, who is Indian-American, said. “My story is like Detroit’s story — I struggled through poverty, never say die, never gave up and I have that resilience that Detroit has. The resilience of Detroit is what my life is about.”

McKinney on Monday said he was “honored” by the endorsements.

“Millions of lives across the country have been made immeasurably better because of the hard work these members have done in Congress, and I look forward to working alongside these incredible leaders to pass critical legislation to protect voting rights, get big money out of our politics, and ensure all families have access to the resources they need to not just survive, but to truly thrive,” he said in a statement.

Congress

Fetterman says Democrats were ‘horribly wrong’ to try eliminating Senate filibuster

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is backpedaling on his previous calls to eliminate the filibuster in the Senate — which is a critical bulwark against “a fill-in-the-blank government with new laws, deregulation or procedures of its choosing,” he wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday.

“A Senate without the filibuster [would become] a Senate that ignored the voices of the minority and everyday people,” he wrote, elaborating on previous comments. Last month, he told Katie Miller that Democrats were “so wrong” about opposing the filibuster.

“We cannot become a smaller version of the House of Representatives,” he wrote in his op-ed.

In 2022, Fetterman campaigned to abolish the filibuster, a 60-vote rule that effectively requires a supermajority to pass most legislation. His argument on the trail — which remains on his campaign website as of Monday afternoon — was that the rule stood “in the way of getting things done for Pennsylvanians.”

At that time, many Senate Democrats and activists argued the same publicly, as the party attempted to pass a sweeping overhaul of elections that Democrats said would better protect voting rights. But two then-Democratic senators, Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — protested against throwing out the rule, saying it would hurt the party’s priorities in the long run.

Ultimately the filibuster survived and Democrats did not pass their voting rights bill, with much of the party base heaping scorn on Manchin and Sinema.

Now, with Republicans holding a government trifecta, the power dynamic has flipped.

President Donald Trump is now urging Republican senators to kill the filibuster, which has stalled passage of the SAVE America Act. He turned the screws on Majority Leader John Thune on Monday, demanding that Thune keep the Senate in session until the GOP-backed elections bill passes.

“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

The filibuster has been a block against GOP-championed causes, Fetterman argued: “We could have extreme policies such as nationwide abortion restrictions, backpedaling on LGBT rights, repeal of birthright citizenship and limited voting rights across the country. … Republicans could fundamentally change the entire government and country with a simple majority vote.”

With the midterms approaching, Democrats face a tight battle to win back the Senate. The next time they have a trifecta, the filibuster will — once again — be a thorn in the party’s side, complicating the passage of key priorities.

Democrats “will once again have to find common ground with our Republican colleagues,” Fetterman said. “We will need to abandon our worst impulses as a party and work together to find solutions to the problems Americans face.”

Congress

McConnell to remain in rehab, will skip Fancy Farm picnic in Kentucky

Published

2 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Monday that he will remain in rehab as he continues to recover from a June fall that left him briefly unconscious.

In a statement, McConnell shared that he is “working hard” to return to a full schedule but remains in “intense physical therapy.”

The Office of the Attending Physician (OAP) confirmed that medical staff visit the senator daily to discuss “all aspects of his rehabilitation care” but added he is “not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to office.”

“Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls,” the OAP said. “His bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility.”

McConnell, 84, was rushed to the hospital on June 14 following the fall and what he described as a “mild case of pneumonia.” In a letter to constituents earlier this month, he said that while he was briefly knocked unconscious, he did not suffer any broken bones, a stroke or a heart attack. It is unclear when McConnell was discharged.

But his continued rehab stay means McConnell will miss Kentucky’s premier political event: the annual Fancy Farm Picnic.

“There’s no place I’d rather be on the first Saturday in August than with the good people of western Kentucky, feasting on pork and mutton,” McConnell said Monday. “I hate that I’ll miss the fun this year, but I’m sending my best wishes to the St. Jerome community for a successful picnic.”

McConnell, who is retiring when his current term concludes in January, has faced a series of health challenges in recent years. In 2023, he froze twice while speaking to reporters. He has also experienced several other falls and, at one point, used a wheelchair as what his office called a precautionary measure.