Congress

GOP senators hope for a quick Cabinet shakeup

Published

5 months ago

April 23, 2026

If you’re a Cabinet official thinking of pursuing a new professional opportunity, Senate Republicans have a request: Now’s the time to call it quits.

The departure this week of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is following former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi out the door, has some GOP lawmakers pondering a larger Cabinet shakeup and what that could mean to an unsettled Senate floor schedule.

Senate Republicans are already trying to juggle a shrinking window for lawmaking before the November midterms — including at least one potential party-line budget reconciliation bill, a litany of measures they are negotiating with the House and, some hope, a possible Supreme Court vacancy.

That’s not to mention the growing uncertainty about what will happen in the midterms themselves, with many Republicans growing concerned that their four-seat majority could be at risk.

“The number of working days are very limited,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in an interview. “You just do the math. It’s a very compressed schedule.”

Tillis is among a group of Republican senators who believe Trump should make any further changes to his inner circle sooner rather than later to give the Senate maximum flexibility in confirming replacements. Waiting, they fear, could mean significant delays in confirmations or worse if Democrats can retake the majority.

Another GOP senator, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said any personnel shakeup is ultimately up to Trump but that it would “make sense to do it now.”

“As we get closer to the election … you never know what’s going to happen to the Senate,” the senator said.

No GOP senator is openly pointing to any particular Cabinet official as likely to depart. But three privately fingered Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as someone they believe the president is likely to remove.

A fourth questioned how long Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, would remain in her post given her split with the president on recent issues such as the Iran war and a soon-to-lapse surveillance authority, though many Republicans believe she has powerful allies within the White House and outside of the administration.

FBI Director Kash Patel is also under fresh scrutiny after The Atlantic published allegations of drinking and erratic behavior, which he has denied and launched a defamation lawsuit over. Two of the GOP senators granted anonymity to speak candidly said they believed Patel was on the rocks.

“He’s in a bad mood, so he’s letting a lot of them go,” one of the four said about Trump. “He’s preparing to really let a lot of them go.”

The senator added that the shakeup should happen sooner rather than later, saying, “It’s not like we’ll have that much time.”

The urgency was further underscored Wednesday by the sudden departure of Navy Secretary John Phelan, who was not a Cabinet member but occupied a senior Senate-confirmed post that is now vacant in wartime.

Other senators aren’t fretting, noting that any move to remake the Cabinet depends solely on Trump, who has been known to mull privately for months about potentially firing someone before taking action.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said. “Typically, you see some changes before, like right after the midterms, in preparation for the next two-year cycle.”

The White House defended Trump’s personnel choices in a statement Wednesday.

“The President has assembled a world-class cabinet who are tirelessly implementing the President’s agenda and achieving tremendous results for the American people,” spokesperson Davis Ingle said. “They will continue fulfilling the many promises President Trump was elected to enact. The White House is appreciative of their service to this country.”

The prospects for replacing Bondi, Chavez-DeRemer, Phelan and others could vary wildly.

Republicans were able to confirm Markwayne Mullin to succeed Noem at DHS in a matter of weeks — but that was the exception, not the norm. Mullin enjoyed bipartisan support as a sitting senator and moved through a committee with few procedural hurdles.

The Judiciary Committee, in contrast, has a 28-day holdover period between when it receives a nominee questionnaire and when it holds a hearing, meaning the Senate’s consideration of any attorney general nominee will be much slower.

Several committees including Judiciary, Banking and Finance all have one-seat margins between the parties, meaning that nominees that can’t garner Democratic support risk getting blocked by opposition from just one GOP panel member.

In addition to the Cabinet nominees, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is working to assemble a package of lower-level nominations to confirm as a group — though even that can be tricky. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), for instance, is holding up all Coast Guard promotions over a contract dispute.

Then there’s the growing pile of backed-up legislation, including the renewal of a contentious surveillance law, a stalled-out housing bill, the GOP’s party-line push for immigration enforcement and a potential push for yet another budget reconciliation bill. The chamber will also be out of session for long stretches later this year to accommodate midterm campaigning.

“We’ve got a full plate, so confirming new people is going to take a while,” Thune said.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) added that the Senate was also busy with the annual government funding process and assembling the mammoth defense policy bill.

“They’ll do it based on what’s best for them and the president,” he said of any departing deputies. “I think it’s totally up to the president as to when he would want to make a submission.”

The White House is signaling that it’s aware of the Senate’s calendar as it considers staffing shakeups and is trying to give the chamber enough time to confirm replacements before the end of the year approaches. Tillis warned that if Trump waits until June or July to oust additional officials, the Senate could run out of time to confirm them.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) questioned if the time crunch wasn’t already so severe that filling any additional Cabinet departures would have to be a “lame duck thing” — referring to the traditional session held between an election and the beginning of the next Congress.

“I think we’re probably better right now … having the stability,” Cramer added.

The North Dakota Republican pointed to other items he wants to get done in the meantime, including appropriations, permitting reform, a farm bill and judicial nominations.

“There are big things to do yet,” Cramer said, noting the “constant Supreme Court chatter” he’d heard. “In fact, that would be more important.”

Leo Shane III contributed to this report.

Congress

How Republicans are privately talking about their Senate map at the convention

Published

4 hours ago

September 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DALLAS — Top Republicans are scrambling to shore up their Senate map in Alaska, Texas and other red states — and are privately acknowledging they could very well lose in Georgia and North Carolina.

As GOP lawmakers, candidates and party officials gather for their midterm convention in Dallas, their conversations reveal how the party is thinking about their chances in the battle for the upper chamber, less than two months from Election Day.

THE TOP TARGETS

Senate Majority Leader John Thune ticked through a handful of battleground states he’s confident about in a closed-door lunch on Thursday — he’s particularly focused on Alaska, Maine and Michigan.

The meeting was hosted by the Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate’s top GOP super PAC, and was used to rally Republican donors, according to two people in the room who were granted anonymity to share details of the private discussions.

Republicans are bullish about their chances of holding their seat in Maine after the Democratic side devolved into chaos over the summer, when Graham Plater suspended his campaign following an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies. Now, a largely untested, progressive Troy Jackson is looking to unseat five-term GOP Sen. Susan Collins.

In Alaska, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is locked in a tight race with Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, but they are optimistic about his prospects in the state that President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024.

Michigan is another opportunity: Republicans have been leaning into attacks warning of the takeover of socialism this cycle. They are spending heavily to boost Republican Mike Rogers, who is running against progressive Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee who’s backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and who has become a boogeyman for Republicans.

TEXAS IS FOR TRUMP

Senior Republicans also indicated they would continue to leave shoring up imperiled Ken Paxton in Texas largely to Trump, given that he helped unseat Sen. John Cornyn by backing Paxton in the primary.

Trump said in his convention speech Wednesday night that he would help boost Paxton. His affiliated super PAC, MAGA Inc. has already started spending in Texas to shore up the Republican. Senate Leadership Fund, which publicly backed Cornyn during the GOP primary, has not announced any spending in Texas.

THE PROBLEM CHILDREN

Georgia, where Republican Rep. Mike Collins is facing rising Democratic star Sen. Jon Ossoff, didn’t come up in the SLF meeting with Thune, according to the people. One of the people who was in the room later told Blue Light News that North Carolina would be “tough.”

Republicans have been increasingly worried about Collins falling behind in Georgia and Michael Whatley, a former RNC chair, in North Carolina. Public polling shows both candidates trailing their Democratic opponents. They are also both being outraised on the candidate level, but Republicans have a substantial overall fundraising advantage — buoyed in large part by Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC.

Sen. Rick Scott, a former NRSC chair, said in an interview at the convention this week that if the Georgia GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Jackson “runs an unbelievable race in Georgia, he gives Mike Collins an opportunity possibly to beat Ossoff.” He also painted North Carolina as “probably one of the hardest ones,” given that Whatley is facing popular former Gov. Roy Cooper for an open seat.

Democrats need to hold onto all of their seats — including defending the open seat in Michigan — while also flipping four GOP-held ones to gain control of the upper chamber. Republicans are also eager to boost John Sununu in New Hampshire after his primary win this week, as they work to beat back serious challenges in Ohio and Iowa.

Collins and Whatley both welcomed additional financial support coming into the final stretch of their races in interviews during the convention.

“Listen, we’ll always make a case for more money,” Collins told Blue Light News he left a closed-door meeting with the NRSC, SLF head Alex Latcham and top Senate Republicans on Wednesday.

Congress

House will vote on legislation shielding consumers from data center energy costs

Published

6 hours ago

September 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House GOP leaders will put legislation on the floor next week designed to compel tech companies to pay for the infrastructure associated with energy-sucking data centers, according to the offices of Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

It comes as vulnerable House Republicans have been pleading with leadership to take some sort of action before the midterms to address the rising power prices linked to the data center boom, necessary to meet the growing artificial intelligence demand.

Many of these Republicans, who were hammered on the issue during the summer recess by fed-up constituents, have been calling for consideration specifically of the so-called Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed unanimously out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in July.

Leaders, however, have been weighing whether or not to move forward with the measure on the floor, with Scalise’s office claiming late last month that some of his members had problems with the proposal that still needed to be worked out.

That Scalise and others have now caved is a sign of the political pressure the party is feeling on the matter as Election Day draws near. This is one the last bills lawmakers will vote on before leaving town for a six week recess before the midterms.

According to four people with knowledge of next week’s agenda, the bill will come to the floor under an expedited floor procedure that only requires a two-thirds majority of those present and voting to secure passage. That means Republican leaders won’t have to worry about the legislation overcoming a procedural, party-line rule that GOP lawmakers could tank for any number of reasons, including outstanding concerns over the Ratepayer Protection Act.

One person granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations said the bill that passed out of Energy and Commerce has not been revised, meaning there could still be lingering opposition.

Many Republicans, in recent weeks, have continued to argue that data center construction is a local matter that ought not be regulated at the national level.

“I’m a true believer in local control,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said in an interview Thursday along the sidelines of the GOP midterm convention in Dallas this week.

The news of the planned vote was first reported by Axios.

Lawmakers next week will also vote on the so-called AM Radio in Every Vehicle Act, legislation that would force automakers to include AM radio capabilities in all new vehicles, according to two people granted anonymity to describe private scheduling.

The measure has wide bipartisan appeal but has been criticized as too onerous by some electric vehicle manufacturers who say their car designs cannot currently accommodate AM radio functionality.

Congress

Tom Emmer has a message for House GOP chairs: Term limits matter

Published

8 hours ago

September 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DALLAS — House Majority Whip Tom Emmer has a message for the multiple House committee chairs seeking an exception from Republicans’ term limit rule: He’s “not a fan” of waivers, and you should have a good reason for seeking one.

“I’ve never liked waivers,” Emmer said in an interview at the GOP midterm convention. “I think it’s one of the things that helped the Republican majority stay more connected to Main Street.”

As the No. 3 Republican leader, Emmer does not control the waivers, which are in the hands of the 35-member GOP Steering Committee and the larger House Republican Conference.

But he has an influential voice as a top leader and Steering Committee member, and he said there are only “limited circumstances where it might make sense” to allow Republicans to lead a committee for more than three terms.

Several chairs, including Agriculture’s G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) and Armed Services’ Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), have applied for waivers to continue in their posts next Congress. The three-term limit includes time served leading panels in both the majority and minority.

Emmer said members should be free to make their case to continue on but, he said, the bar should be high.

“I love our members who have been around for years and have institutional knowledge,” Emmer said. “But unlike Democrats, we have turnover on the Republican side.”

He added, “Every two election cycles or so, you have close to 50 percent turnover in the Republican House. You don’t get that in the Senate. You get people who are serving as octogenarians, and they’re showing no signs of leaving.”

One GOP chair who is planning on handing off his gavel is Judiciary’s Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a MAGA favorite who could start the new Congress without a perch of power — leading to rampant speculation about what he has planned.

“I heard the president saylast week in the Rose Garden that we need to keep Jim right where he is, which was interesting because it’s like — OK, but I think he’s termed out,” Emmer said.

Many believe that Jordan — as well as Emmer and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise — could seek to run for the top leadership post now held by Speaker Mike Johnson if Republicans lose their majority in November. Emmer reiterated that he believes that won’t happen and that the GOP leadership will stay the same.

“It’s going to be Mike Johnson, Steve Scalise. I hope I’m rehired, and I expect Lisa McClain will be rehired,” he said, referring to the No. 4 GOP leader from Michigan.