Congress
GOP leaders prepare to steamroll opponents of DHS funding plan
Conservative lawmakers are throwing up roadblocks to a GOP-only immigration enforcement funding plan. But party leaders are hitting the gas anyway, hoping to quickly flatten any skeptics as they race to meet a June 1 deadline set by President Donald Trump.
At stake is the final endgame of the 58-day-and-counting Department of Homeland Security shutdown. The Senate has passed the biggest piece of the funding puzzle, and top GOP leaders are now embarking on the multistep budget reconciliation process to sidestep Democratic opposition and fund enforcement agencies for the rest of Trump’s term.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he would pursue an “anorexic” bill narrowly focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Republicans hope that will allow them to skip months of agonizing infighting — as they endured before enacting last year’s tax-cuts-focused megabill.
Still, some agony looms.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) insisted Monday on spending cuts to offset the new enforcement funding. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said he wants to include money for the military and other GOP priorities. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) argued parts of a hot-button GOP elections bill should be in the mix. And across the Capitol, the House’s right flank insisted Republicans fund all of DHS through the party-line process — not just ICE and Border Patrol.
Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson are expected to discuss the path forward during their private weekly meeting Tuesday. The House is stalling for now on the bipartisan Senate-passed bill that would fund the bulk of DHS, waiting for progress on the second bill under discussion.
Even Kennedy, who said it was a “mistake” not to include parts of the SAVE America Act in any upcoming reconciliation measure, warned Thune against expanding its scope.
“If he starts making deals with individual senators … then he’ll have an avalanche on his hands,” he said. “I know a number of senators who will take a run at Thune and say, ‘Look, you’ll only get my vote if you include my stuff in it.’ Well, if he starts that, then I’ve got some of my own stuff.”
The ultimatums could start pouring in as soon as the Senate GOP’s closed-door Tuesday lunch, when Thune and Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will get the chance to talk through the plan with their colleagues.
The first step will be for Republicans to take up a budget resolution — a fiscal blueprint for the party-line legislation, which Graham’s committee could release as soon as Tuesday. That blueprint is expected to task the Senate Judiciary Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with drafting legislation that would fund immigration enforcement agencies for the rest of Trump’s term.
Typically reconciliation bills include at least some attempt to offset new spending with other savings or revenue. But GOP leaders are ready to argue that won’t be necessary in this instance since it involves funding that would have gone through the appropriations process — had Democrats not insisted on enforcement policy restrictions after federal agents shot and killed two Minneapolis residents in January.
Thune also warned Monday that expanding the bill by instructing additional committees — such as the Finance panel, which deals with taxes and federal health programs — would expose Republican senators to politically tough votes that could threaten the overall package. Any amendment that is germane to a reconciliation bill and under the jurisdiction of the instructed committees is eligible for a simple-majority vote — and the minority party aims to use those “vote-a-ramas” to put the majority on the spot.
“It gets really complicated procedurally, politically, and so, you know, to execute on it — to do it with any speed — you’ve got [to] keep it really tight,” Thune said.
In a sign of just how fast Senate Republicans want to move, Graham is expected to skip a committee vote on the fiscal blueprint for the reconciliation bill, according to three people granted anonymity to describe private planning. While Graham indicated Monday he still hasn’t made a final decision, going straight to the floor would deny Budget committee members, including Scott and Kennedy, a first bite at making any potential changes.
Instead, Republicans are aiming to bring the budget resolution straight to the floor as soon as next week. That would give the House time to adopt it before both chambers are scheduled for a recess in early May, though it’s possible that timeline could slip — especially if Republicans also struggle to meet an April 20 deadline to extend a key surveillance program.
To get the budget blueprint or the subsequent reconciliation bill through the Senate, Thune can lose as many as three GOP senators, with Vice President JD Vance breaking a possible tie.
Republicans are closely watching one of their own committee chairs who will be tasked with helping write the bill, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. He didn’t say how he would handle the budget resolution Monday but told reporters that he generally supports “spending less money, not more.”
Besides the grumbling from fiscal hawks, there are also Republican senators who are skeptical of any new reconciliation bill — especially appropriators concerned that the party-line approach is encroaching on their bipartisan turf.
But GOP leaders are cautiously hopeful they will be able to move quickly after months of sparring with Democrats over immigration enforcement policy frustrated many in their ranks. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters Monday her panel has been giving “technical assistance” to Graham’s panel while lamenting the breakdown in the appropriations process.
“It obviously would have been better if we came up with a bipartisan compromise to finish up the one remaining bill,” Collins said.
But the bigger threat could be in the House, where Republicans have an even tinier majority and a more rambunctious band of ultraconservative lawmakers.
One of their ringleaders, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, reacted negatively to Thune’s “anorexic” vision for the funding bill Monday. He suggested funding all of DHS through a party-line reconciliation bill, not just ICE and Border Patrol.
“Well – he isn’t the only voice in this, is he?” Roy wrote on X. “We should move other priorities with ALL of DHS… we’re running out of time to deliver and to clean up these repeated swamp messes.”
Sen. Rick Scott is launching a plan for how the country should tackle its growing economic headaches as Republicans face rising voter affordability concerns heading into the midterms.
The Florida Republican, who has garnered 2028 White House speculation, will announce the “Rescuing America” project in a video to be published Tuesday, according to details first shared with Blue Light News.
“I put together a project with one goal — to educate the American public on how our economy has drastically changed, how the American dream is out of reach for so many, and how we can fix it,” Scott says in the video.
Scott’s plan comes as the party is facing a wave of voter frustration about the economy — a dynamic he appeared to acknowledge in the video.
“The question is not whether people are angry — they are,” he says. “The question is who provides the answers.”
Scott’s project will include additional videos aimed at confronting America’s biggest economic challenges, as well as a lengthy speaking tour at economic events around the country, according to a person granted knowledge to describe Scott’s plans.
The pitch at those events will include laying out fiscal steps like cutting spending and the national debt, regulatory changes and reforms to social safety net programs as well as structural changes in Washington, including term limits, according to details reviewed by Blue Light News.
Scott, in Tuesday’s video, added that his plan focuses on “holding Washington accountable” and “fixing this broken system.”
Scott’s decision to roll out an economy-focused project comes as GOP colleagues widely viewed him as being interested in running for the White House — a belief fueled in part by his recent travel to Iowa and plans to visit New Hampshire later this week.
It’s not the first time Scott has rolled out his own economic agenda. In 2022, he unveiled a “Rescue America” plan while he was also serving as chair of the Senate Republican campaign arm — a dynamic that sparked grumbling from fellow GOP senators who worried it would be used against their candidates.
Now Scott is chair of the conservative policy-focused Republican Steering Committee. He told POLITICO in an interview earlier this year that he is not planning to run for a third time this fall for Senate GOP leader.
Republicans are jammed between warnings of existential risk from the AI industry and the demands of their party leaders.
Vice President JD Vance will speak Tuesday morning to the House GOP Conference, where the Trump administration’s position could become clearer on what it will or won’t accept for any guardrails for the fast-moving technology.
And Senate Republicans are expected to discuss AI policy during a weekly closed-door lunch Tuesday — their first in-person meeting since initial warnings from an industry researcher that AI could destroy humanity.
But the meetings may also spotlight the mismatch between the growing sense of urgency among some rank-and-file Republicans and President Donald Trump’s stark demands against any regulation. Trump Monday called the alleged dangers posed by the tech a “HOAX.”
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune moved carefully Monday, saying there is potentially a role for Congress to put guardrails on the technology while also expressing concerns about stifling innovation amid an AI arms race with China.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise in an interview Monday evening explicitly backed Trump’s comments, adding that current law already addresses some of the major concerns about AI dangers. A number of other GOP members who spoke with Blue Light News also made clear they aren’t interested in engaging on the issue.
But some members on both sides are antsy for more urgency.
Sen. John Kennedy will push for passage Wednesday through unanimous consent on a bill that would require companies to build a “kill switch” into their artificial intelligence models, he told reporters Monday.
Rep. Jay Obernolte, who has an AI safety package he crafted with Rep. Lori Trahan, said “there’s an urgent need to pass something” and that he’s still pressing his colleagues to support his bill. It’s gotten a lukewarm reception from both parties, however.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries Monday delivered his most urgent call to date for guardrails on AI models.
“It’s very real, despite what Donald Trump has to say about that issue as well, and it requires decisive congressional action immediately,” Jeffries said at a press conference, calling on Johnson to keep lawmakers in session.
But the House is only in town until the end of the week and Johnson made clear Monday he’s not likely to move legislation before the midterms — certainly not at the expense of keeping the chamber in session past this week.
Thune, for his part, is locked in negotiations in his chamber with Sen. Amy Klobuchar over a bipartisan AI safety bill he introduced a version of in 2023.
But the majority leader said Monday Klobuchar was “reluctant to move forward” with a revised bill without more Democratic support. In a brief interview Monday, Klobuchar said she’s working to strengthen the proposal.
“It’s probably TBD” if an AI bill could pass by the end of the year, Thune told reporters Monday.
What else we’re watching:
— CRYPTO SHOWDOWN IN SENATE — A landmark effort to incorporate cryptocurrency into the architecture of U.S. financial regulation is poised for a dramatic showdown Tuesday on the Senate floor. This afternoon’s procedural vote outcome remains up in the air, setting the stage for an eleventh-hour scramble for the two parties to strike a deal that would unlock the bipartisan support necessary to advance the bill. Democrats emerged from a meeting in Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office Monday evening saying they planned to send Republicans a counteroffer covering outstanding issues, including on ethics provisions they’re pushing to more aggressively rein in Trump’s family businesses.
— PROGRESSIVES PAN DATA CENTER BILL — Some House progressives are withholding support for a bipartisan proposal to regulate data center electricity costs, the first signs of any opposition to the bill from members of Congress. Top progressives told Blue Light News they are undecided about supporting the Ratepayer Protection Act when it comes to the House floor Tuesday, saying they think the measure doesn’t go far enough. Though they might not have the numbers to tank the bill in the House, their opposition could muddy the bill’s path to passage in the Senate and delay it becoming law.
Mia McCarthy, Jordain Carney, Kelsey Brugger, Jasper Goodman, Amelia Davidson and Nico Portuondo contributed to this report.
John Thune has urged Congress to act on artificial intelligence for years. Now, as concerns about the rapidly advancing technology explode, the Senate majority leader is moving carefully.
A former Commerce Committee chair with a long-running interest in tech policy, Thune is locked in negotiations over a bipartisan AI safety bill. The measure, which he introduced a version of in 2023, would establish some safety and security guardrails for the riskiest models — giving the South Dakota Republican, on paper at least, a solution to Washington’s growing AI nightmare.
But the reality is much messier. Despite growing alarm bells from industry insiders about the potentially catastrophic fallout of runaway AI, Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on how stringent a regulatory framework should be — particularly if it overrides state safety laws.
“It’s probably TBD” if an AI bill could pass by the end of the year, Thune told reporters Monday as global players took stock of a host of warnings from AI lab insiders — as well as brushoffs from President Donald Trump and tech-industry investors.
“There are going to continue to be a lot of conversations about potential paths forward, but getting anything done in the near term is going to be challenging given the other stuff we’re dealing with,” he added.
In addition to negotiating his own bill, Thune will need to navigate Trump’s growing recalcitrance. The president dismissed the idea that unregulated AI models could threaten humanity as a “HOAX” Monday, even as his party faces backlash from voters who have grown increasingly skeptical of the underlying technology and the companies developing it.
Thune is also facing competing factions within his own party ranks, not to mention among Democrats, about how heavy of a hand Congress should have in determining AI guardrails. Across the Capitol, Speaker Mike Johnson and other House GOP leaders are warning against moving too quickly on potential regulations, while some other traditional small-government conservatives are suggesting Congress shouldn’t stay on the sidelines.
Senate Republicans are expected to discuss AI policy during a weekly closed-door lunch Tuesday — their first in-person meeting since an industry researcher warned last week that AI could destroy humanity and some company leaders called over the weekend for a joint slowdown on model development.
“We’ve been having meetings about AI for several years, trying to figure out the best thing to do about it,” said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 party leader. “We’re going to continue talking about it, probably more aggressively now than we had.”
Historically, Republicans have expressed concern about overregulating the AI industry out of fear the government could stifle American innovation and, ultimately, cede ground to China. Thune appeared to flick at that concern within his party Monday, saying he believed there was a role for Congress but that lawmakers should take a “light touch.”
“There is a way in which Congress can put guardrails around those types of more consequential threats, without in any way harming our ability to stay ahead in the AI race, which I think is also very important,” Thune said, arguing that the bill he is negotiating with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) would strike that balance.
But others on Capitol Hill engaged on AI matters who distrust the industry are increasingly convinced a heavy hand is needed given the risks exposed in recent runaway-model incidents.
Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on Senate Commerce, in an interview Monday criticized Republicans over the weekend for dragging their feet and mocked the GOP’s past approach to technology.
She recalled experts on a bipartisan panel warning lawmakers years ago “this could go rogue, so you need to do something, but the Republicans kept saying, ‘No, no — light touch, light touch, light touch, light touch.’”
“I’m pretty sure they’re going to still say that,” Cantwell added.
When told that Thune did in fact utter the phrase “light touch” Monday, she replied, “Okay, that’s bad.”
It’s unclear if Thune’s former Democratic partners on AI regulation will lock arms with him this time around.
Klobuchar has a yearslong history of teaming up with Thune on a variety of issues — including the 2023 version of their AI legislation. But Thune said Monday he spoke with Klobuchar about a revised bill over the weekend and said she was “reluctant to move forward” without more Democratic support.
In a brief interview Monday, Klobuchar said she’s working to strengthen the proposal: “We’re continuing to negotiate.”
In a subsequent statement responding to Thune’s comments, she said it is “clear” from talks that there is bipartisan agreement “that something needs to be done.”
“I’m committed to continuing to work with Senators Thune, Cantwell, and [Commerce Chair Ted] Cruz to ensure we have a bill with strong safeguards,” Klobuchar continued. “I do not expect the chair and ranking member to agree with every provision in the bill but hope we can reach consensus. Time is of the essence.”
The House is expected to leave town this week until after the November elections, and the Senate could follow suit as soon as next week. Neither expected to take up sweeping AI safety legislation before that. A separate bill narrowly focused on the energy impacts of data center development could make it to Trump’s desk before then, but only if all 100 senators agree to expedite it.
Cruz, who has done little on the subject of AI safety since he became chair last year, admitted in a recent interview with POLITICO that the threats being raised inside the top AI labs are “scary as hell.”
But the Texas Republican hasn’t yet scheduled a long-sought committee vote on AI bills after multiple delays. Asked Monday about progress on the Thune-Klobuchar bill, Cruz said, “We’re working on it. We’re not there yet.”
Consensus has also been tough to find inside the Democratic caucus. Progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have called for an immediate moratorium on the development of AI superintelligence, while others have proposed a more moderate approach.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a Commerce member, said in an interview that lawmakers don’t need to resolve every debate over the future of AI — they just need to establish a baseline standard for transparency and oversight of the industry.
“What we need to do is take down the risk of these models either jumping out of the sandbox or being released into the wild without any third party certifying to their safety,” he said. “And if we could just do that and then fight about the rest of it in a few weeks or months, that would be progress.”
Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
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