Congress

GOP governors back new reconciliation bill as Senate sputters

Published

2 hours ago

July 29, 2026

Nearly two dozen governors are throwing their support behind President Donald Trump’s push for a new party-line spending bill — the latest effort to build pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his GOP colleagues to move quickly.

The letter, a copy of which was obtained exclusively by POLITICO, comes as White House budget director Russ Vought and James Braid, Trump’s top legislative aide, are set to meet with Senate Republicans during a closed-door lunch Wednesday where they will outline the White House’s vision for the bill.

“As Republican Governors, we strongly support your call for the United States Senate to urgently pass a budget resolution. This resolution is a crucial first step to protect America’s elections, strengthen America’s national defense, and support American farmers,” the letter reads.

Signers include leaders of the two largest GOP states, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as well as the governor of Thune’s home state of South Dakota, Larry Rhoden.

They added that they believe it is “critical” for Congress to pass a bill that includes assistance for the military, farmers and election-related funding.

The state-level push comes after the House adopted a $95 billion budget blueprint for the party-line bill that is facing skepticism in the Senate, where some defense hawks want to spend much more while deficit-minded Republicans want a smaller price tag. Thune indicated Tuesday that the White House wants to expand the scope of the bill, which would complicate his already complex battle to wrangle votes for a narrower budget blueprint.

Thune hasn’t ruled out trying to adopt a budget resolution as soon as next week — the first step in the party-line reconciliation process — but has been frank about the challenges.

“As I’ve said before, it’s all about having 50,” he said this week.

Trump, in a Wednesday Truth Social post, reiterated his demand for action: “I am calling on the Senate to get this critical first step done before the August recess. This Resolution can be adopted at a simple Majority threshold. GET IT DONE!”

Congress

Cruz drops plans to advance AI bills next week

Published

10 minutes ago

July 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz said Wednesday he is again postponing a highly anticipated markup of artificial intelligence bills planned for next week.

Instead, the Texas Republican said in an interview Wednesday, the panel will only take up bills focused on kids’ online safety.

Cruz said senators could not strike a deal on AI legislation in time for the committee to vote next week.

“We are going to do a markup on kids’ safety next week,” Cruz told Blue Light News. “We have moved the broader AI markup to September. … It’s our intention still to mark those up, but it is taking longer to get bipartisan agreement.”

Cruz said the committee would mark up the Kids Online Safety Act, led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), along with other measures.

Under the panel’s rules, the chair must publish an agenda a week in advance. The committee did not immediately respond to a question about exactly which bills would be on the docket.

Congress

Republicans start pondering another debt limit hike as midterms loom

Published

2 hours ago

July 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Republicans raised the debt limit by $5 trillion last year. Now they are already thinking about how to head off another dive over the fiscal cliff on President Donald Trump’s watch.

Independent forecasters predict the U.S. will reach the “X-date” — the ultimate deadline for preventing a U.S. debt default — sometime between next summer and early 2028, just as presidential primaries start kicking into gear.

To head off high-stakes negotiations with Democrats, White House officials have privately floated raising the nation’s $41.1 trillion borrowing limit in the party-line spending package many Republicans want to enact before the November midterm elections, according to two people granted anonymity to disclose private conversations.

The move could save Trump much angst if Republicans lose control of either chamber in the upcoming election, since any Democratic majority would demand concessions in a bipartisan negotiation to prevent an unprecedented default on the national debt, which currently sits at nearly $39.7 trillion.

“$40 trillion in debt, seems to me, should get our attention,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday morning, noting that reducing the deficit used to be a “primary reason” Republicans used the reconciliation process to skirt the Senate filibuster. “But we seem to be a little distracted by other issues at the moment.”

Thune said this week that the debt ceiling is “something that a lot of people are looking to address,” noting that Republicans could increase the borrowing limit between the “lame duck” session after the November election but before the new Congress is seated.

“There’s always a possibility, obviously, post-November to do something,” Thune said, adding that Republicans could “conceivably” pass another party-line package at that time.

The federal government is set to reach the borrowing limit Congress set in last year’s GOP megabill sometime in the first half of next year. But the Treasury Department would be able to employ special accounting maneuvers that would let the federal government keep paying its obligations for at least a few more months.

Congress

Blanche nomination hangs by a thread as Cornyn stands by settlement ultimatum

Published

3 hours ago

July 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

GOP Sen. John Cornyn said Wednesday, less than 24 hours before a critical committee vote, that he is “not prepared” to support Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general as the two continue to tangle over the fate of a controversial DOJ-brokered settlement agreement involving President Donald Trump.

Blanche did not appear for a planned morning meeting in Cornyn’s office, and the senator told reporters that time was running out for Blanche to meet his demand to formally modify the settlement Trump reached with the IRS earlier this year — a key ultimatum the Texas Republican set out after Blanche’s confirmation hearing earlier this month.

“Hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this,” said Cornyn, who recently lost his bid for renomination to a fifth term to a Trump-backed challenger. “I haven’t seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested.”

He added, “Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they’re mistaken.”

Cornyn’s comments came ahead of a scheduled Thursday vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the Texan has been seen as the pivotal vote. Opposition from any one Republican could sink Blanche’s chances of confirmation, and another potential GOP swing vote, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said this week he would follow Cornyn’s lead.

Cornyn said Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had told him he needed to know by 4 p.m. Wednesday if the vote could go forward, putting the Trump administration on a tight timeline if they want Blanche confirmed before the Senate starts its summer recess next week.

A spokesperson for Grassley declined to comment on Cornyn’s deadline claim.

The modification Cornyn is seeking would enshrine Blanche’s oral pledge during his confirmation hearing earlier this month that a proposed “anti-weaponization” fund is defunct and that an IRS audit immunity agreement for Trump, his family and business is pared back.

Cornyn and Tillis both expressed concern about the $1.8 billion fund, which was viewed as a way to direct taxpayer money to those convicted of assaulting police officers and other offenses associated with the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.