Congress

GOP calls off votes after contentious meeting on ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

Published

3 weeks ago

May 21, 2026

Senate GOP leaders have canceled plans to vote this week on a party-line immigration enforcement bill, a major setback as lawmakers contend with President Donald Trump’s personal political agenda.

Several Republican senators said action on the legislation would wait until after a weeklong Memorial Day recess — guaranteeing that Congress would blow a Trump-set June 1 deadline for the immigration funding.

The decision appeared to be driven by fierce internal divides over politically sensitive issues not related to the core purpose of the bill — pumping tens of billions of dollars into Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies.

It came after Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche struggled Thursday to quash GOP concerns over a newly announced $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Leaders had already concluded they would have to omit a $1 billion Secret Service funding line item that could have gone toward Trump’s White House ballroom due to internal dissension.

Blanche met privately with Senate Republicans as the administration and GOP leaders tried to defuse the controversy over the fund.

GOP leaders believed they had enough members who would support a proposal targeting the fund that it would ultimately be added into the filibuster-skirting bill, as Blue Light News first reported Wednesday.

Asked if the briefing changed her mind, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a critic of the fund, told reporters, “No.”

Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — who have also been critical of the fund — declined to comment. But two people granted anonymity to describe the meeting said the meeting did not go well for the administration and that Blanche was not persuasive.

Money for the fund isn’t included in the GOP’s immigration enforcement bill. But because the bill involves Justice Department funding and the Senate Judiciary Committee is involved in the bill, senators have a path to add language related to the fund into the bill with only 51 votes. Republicans did discuss possible guardrails they could put on the fund during the meeting.

Republicans have not yet finalized the bill they plan to put on the Senate floor, raising the possibility that the chamber could punt action until after a weeklong Memorial Day recess. Senate leaders could have attendance issues if they try to keep members in town past Friday afternoon.

Asked if they could still vote on the bill this week, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) told reporters, “That’s being discussed.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told reporters after leaving the meeting that leaders would likely decide “within the next hour or so” about whether to send members home and reconvene after the recess.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to comment on the fund or on the ability to pass a bill this week as he left the meeting.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Democrats’ H.R. 1 problem

Published

2 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Hakeem Jeffries wants “affordability” to be House Democrats’ primary legislative pitch heading into the midterms. But not all his members agree it should be “H.R. 1” if they win back the majority.

Other top Democrats interviewed this week said they hoped the party would prioritize other issues in a signature bill to kick off their return to power, including voting rights, anti-corruption measures and rolling back Trump initiatives.

“We must secure and guarantee the right to vote and to have free and fair elections because that is the basic premise of democratic society,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Judiciary Committee Democrat, said in an interview.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the group would like to see the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act revived in any new H.R. 1. Clarke said that she personally would prefer Democrats rally around “comprehensive immigration reform” as their first bill.

Even Democrats who want to prioritize cost-of-living issues have different perspectives on how to do it. Jeffries this week announced five affordability working groups, each led by moderates and progressives, to attempt to hash out the differences.

New Democrat Coalition Chair Brad Schneider told reporters last week that he wants the party to target President Donald Trump’s tariffs as their first action in the majority. The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ plan to lower costs would not touch tariffs at all.

What’s the priority for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is convening a health care working group with Rep. Terri Sewell?

“If I could wave my magic wand, we’d all have guaranteed health care,” she said in an interview.

What else we’re watching:

— TRUMP TRIES TO KICK-START RECON 3.0: The president is laying out twin demands for new party-line Republican legislation, directing lawmakers to deliver a $350 billion Pentagon cash infusion and to push through the stalled SAVE America Act election overhaul.

— DOOMED FISA VOTE: Republicans expect a House vote Thursday on a three-week extension of FISA Section 702 to fail, risking the surveillance program’s first-ever lapse after a Friday deadline. With the House and the Senate lacking a path forward, and the House leaving at the end of the day for recess until June 23, the spy authority is set to be in limbo until at least the end of the month.

— WHITE HOUSE AI STRATEGY: The White House is exploring a plan to block state-level AI laws by trying to attach preemption legislation to bills designed to shore up kids’ safety online. White House officials met separately this week with tech companies and kids’ safety groups to try to shore up support for the approach.

Mike DeBonis, Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney, Brendan Bordelon, Cheyenne Haslett and Gabby Miller contributed to this report.

Congress

Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats will prioritize affordability. Not all of his members agree.

Published

6 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Hakeem Jeffries made clear this week “affordability” is House Democrats’ primary focus as the minority leader launched an effort to turn the party’s cost-of-living message into actual legislation ahead of the November midterms.

One problem: not all Democrats agree affordability is Job 1.

Multiple top lawmakers interviewed this week said they hope an incoming House Democratic majority would prioritize other issues — ranging from voting rights to anti-corruption measures to simply rolling back Trump administration initiatives — in the party’s signature bill, traditionally designated “H.R. 1.”

Even as new inflation figures showed prices rising at the highest annual rate since 2023 — driven by the Trump administration’s lingering war with Iran — some Democrats argued it would make sense to elevate other issues.

“We must secure and guarantee the right to vote and to have free and fair elections, because that is the basic premise of democratic society,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview. “We are constantly trying to escape the undertow of voter suppression, extreme gerrymandering, and attacks on the election process.”

Securing voting rights and overhauling elections was the subject of the last H.R. 1 Democrats introduced, under then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi when her party was trying to forge a path forward after President Donald Trump’s first election. But that legislation not only failed to become law, it could not connect viscerally with disaffected voters who later returned Trump to office.

Now Jeffries faces a test as a would-be speaker in rallying his 212-member caucus behind not only a campaign message but also palatable, passable legislation that the party can champion ahead of the 2028 campaign cycle.

While House Democrats broadly agree they should attempt to lower costs in early legislation should they take back the majority, they also recognize the symbolic heft of designating a bill H.R. 1. Major economic bills passed under Trump and former President Barack Obama also carried the designation.

That symbolism is especially important given the fact that any Democratic bill won’t become law so long as Trump is in the White House.

“Democrats need to reinspire the country,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in an interview. “And that’s going to be in part a way to do that, is to show people what we stand for.”

The last Democratic H.R. 1 was also known as the For the People Act, which focused on beefing up government ethics, cracking down on untraceable “dark money,” ensuring voting access and eliminating partisan gerrymandering.

There’s an appetite in the caucus beyond just Raskin for revisiting those issues in a signature bill. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) said the Congressional Black Caucus, which she leads, would also like to see a major Democratic voting rights bill, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, revived in any new H.R. 1. That push has gained momentum in recent weeks since the Supreme Court further rolled back the Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing Louisiana and other red states to carve up majority-minority districts before the midterms.

Yet Clarke also said that she personally would prefer her party rally around “comprehensive immigration reform” as its first bill should it gain the majority.

Jeffries seemed to settle the debate earlier this week when he told reporters at a Monday news conference that “when we look at the legislation that we’re going to lean into — including but not limited to H.R. 1 — it will be hyper-focused on driving down the high cost of living.”

Many Democrats see the wisdom in that strategy and are ready to embrace a slate of affordability legislation as prices surged this week.

“Democrats should be confident that our economic message is resonating with people,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said in an interview Wednesday as the new inflation data sunk in. “People understand that inflation matters, and it’s not something you should love.”

But even those Democrats who agree that lowering costs has to be top of mind have differing perspectives on how to do it.

The leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), said he, for instance, wants H.R. 1 to claw back Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding and redirect it to programs that saw cuts under the GOP trifecta, such as Medicaid and affordable housing.

The two largest ideological Democratic caucuses — the Progressive Caucus and the centrist New Democrats Coalition — target overlapping issues in their respective affordability agendas. But the CPC also eyes federally guaranteed paid time off and the abolition of super PACs.

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the New Democrats chair, told reporters last week that he wants the party to undo Trump’s global tariffs in their first action in a potential majority, while the CPC does not touch on tariffs at all.

“Our first action will be to stop the damage that this administration is doing to our economy and our local communities,” Schneider said. “If we address those tariffs, that would be a big step.”

Jeffries announced five working groups this week designed to broker consensus around lowering the cost of housing, gas and utilities, groceries and goods, caregiving and health care. The groups are led by at least one CPC member and one New Democrats member.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.), for instance, will be leading the health care effort — and approaching the issue from very different perspectives. Ocasio-Cortez as a leading advocate for a Medicare-for-All-style single-payer program while an action plan compiled by Sewell for the New Democrats last year takes a more moderate approach to expanding coverage.

“If I could wave my magic wand, we’d all have guaranteed health care,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview.

Jeffries has not weighed in on specifics, but said Monday that “fixing our broken health care system” would be “a part” of the Democratic agenda.

Congress

Trump demands $350B Pentagon infusion, elections overhaul in next party-line GOP bill

Published

12 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump laid out twin demands for new party-line Republican legislation Wednesday night, directing lawmakers to deliver a massive Pentagon cash infusion and to push through an election overhaul that has stalled for weeks in the Senate.

Trump detailed his request for the bill, to be passed under budget reconciliation rules that can avoid a filibuster from Senate Democrats, in a Truth Social post calling on the GOP to act “IMMEDIATELY.”

“No games, no delays, and no weak compromises!” he wrote. “Do this ASAP.”

The legislation would be Republicans’ third attempt at a reconciliation bill this Congress, following last year’s tax-cuts-focused “big, beautiful bill” and the $70 billion immigration enforcement funding infusion Trump just signed Wednesday morning.

GOP congressional leaders, particularly in the House, have taken preliminary steps toward “Reconciliation 3.0” in recent months. But there is still massive skepticism in the Republican ranks over whether it can get done in the handful of scheduled legislative workweeks remaining before the November midterms.

The immigration enforcement bill barely made it over the finish line, given both the tight House and Senate margins and Trump repeatedly introducing political complications, such as asking for funding that could be used for his controversial White House ballroom.

Now Trump is asking for $350 billion in new defense spending, on top of his administration’s pending fiscal 2027 request, as well as passage of the stalled SAVE America Act.

Two top Senate appropriators, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, both suggested at a hearing this week on the administration’s defense budget that another party-line bill was a pipe dream.

Among the challenges GOP leaders will face: Fiscal hawks in the party will demand spending offsets for the that could necessitate cuts to safety-net programs that vulnerable incumbents are likely to resist making just months ahead of Election Day.

The SAVE America Act, meanwhile, has repeatedly fallen short of the support it needs to pass the Senate, and very little of that legislation is thought to comply with the strict fiscal rules governing the reconciliation process.

Top congressional Republicans are just as likely to note what Trump did not include in his request, such as additional tax cuts some in the GOP are promoting or cost-cutting “anti-fraud” measures eyed by fiscal hawks.