Congress

GOP to California: Build back better

Published

2 years ago

January 15, 2025

With wildfires still burning in Southern California, congressional Republicans are getting more detailed about how they plan to handle the politically sensitive topic of delivering potentially tens of billions of dollars of federal disaster aid to the largely Democratic area.

Strings, they are making clear, will be attached.

Some House Republicans who met with President-elect Donald Trump this past weekend floated using the funding as a bargaining chip in debt-limit negotiations with Democrats. And there is an emerging consensus that some unspecified policy changes should be included to prevent future wildfires.

“We don’t play politics with disaster aid,” Speaker Mike Johnson said at a Blue Light News Live event Tuesday. “But there were policy decisions that were made in California at the state and local level, by all appearances, that made this exponentially worse, and so those are things that have to be factored in with regard to the level of aid and whether there are conditions upon that.”

Johnson’s posture was echoed by other congressional Republicans — including some from disaster-prone states who have typically resisted turning federal assistance into a political football.

“I believe that if a state is so grossly mismanaged that the initial disaster is not quickly contained, then we have a responsibility to do common-sense things,” said Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).

“Rebuild maybe so that the conditions are such that the threat from fire is lessened so that we won’t have to do it again,” added Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.).

Republicans have pointed to how Democrats pursued a “Build Back Better” approach to massive infrastructure and climate bills that put similar strings on federal funding to improve climate resilience. President Joe Biden issued executive orders mandating “climate-smart infrastructure.”

But critics say that emergency disaster aid is another thing entirely, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing back on the idea.

“That’s just one of the most cruel and ignorant things you could possibly say, especially in this moment,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), one of many incensed Democrats. “You don’t condition it. We didn’t do that for Louisiana; we didn’t do that for Florida. I’m hoping that that was just a dumb thing that [Johnson] said, which on reflection won’t go any further.”

Some Republicans in closest proximity to recent disasters are striking a similar tone.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who saw parts of his state ravaged by Hurricane Helene, told reporters this week conditioning aid is “not a good thing to do.” And Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), who represents an Orange County district with similar terrain to where the Los Angeles fires have spread, said any debate about policies should come later.

“We need to get the aid to Southern California communities as soon as possible,” Kim said Wednesday. “The conditions … is not something that we need to be focused on right now.”

Any aid package is still a ways off, with fire crews still working to extinguish the Los Angeles area fires and damage estimates even further off. Republican leaders have floated including the disaster aid into an expected government funding package that will come together in March, when funding is set to lapse.

The debt ceiling will also need to get raised in the coming months, sparking the suggestion that disaster money could serve as a sweetener to get Democratic votes for that politically unsavory task. “It’s going to be very difficult to do something with only Republican votes,” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said about the borrowing limit.

That kind of horse-trading would represent a new frontier in the politicization of the debt ceiling, and former Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who helped push through emergency aid requests after the 9/11 terror attacks and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, said that would be a bad idea.

“You’re playing games with Americans’ solvency, our credit rating, and it’s just never gone anywhere,” he said. “We have enough real issues to address, and you can’t be tying — to me — anything and everything to the debt ceiling.”

King and other Republicans have been more open to adding policy strings to any aid requests, but they have been vague on what exactly those conditions might entail. Donalds cited “forestry management” and “building out reservoir systems that they should have built 60 years ago.”

“Let’s just mitigate the issues,” he said, “so that we’re not spending future money that is unnecessarily significant because they won’t do sound policy which is done in virtually every other state in the country.”

Those policy prescriptions, however, likely wouldn’t have much bearing on preventing a repeat of what LA has faced over the past week. The fires are in urban areas, not the forests that have been a target of Trump’s ire, and the city’s fire hydrant issues aren’t linked to the state’s water management system.

Johnson, who represents a district in hurricane-prone Louisiana, acknowledged on Tuesday that tying disaster funding to policy changes is a “brand new idea” but one, he argued, that is justified “so that we can properly balance the interests of the American people and our financial condition right now.”

But Californians watching their neighbors lose their homes — and in some cases, their lives — have little appetite for lectures about the national debt or forest management.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Santa Barbara-area Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.). “It’s a fucking shame, and it speaks to the values of of my colleagues on the other side that want to play politics with those that are hurting right now and being impacted by a natural disaster.”

Emily Ngo contributed to this report.

Congress

Scalise will kick off August campaign sprint in marquee Nebraska House race

Published

5 hours ago

July 31, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is zeroing in on one of House Republicans’ biggest contests — a purple district in Nebraska — when he starts his recess campaign sprint.

Scalise will travel to Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the Omaha area for an event with Republican Brinker Harding in the coming days, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to share plans not yet made public. Republicans are digging in to defend the seat, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential race and is among Democrats’ best pick up opportunities this fall as they seek to flip the House.

Harding is running against Democratic consultant Denise Powell to replace retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon. Bacon, a moderate-leaning Republican, flipped the Omaha district red in 2016.

After Nebraska, Scalise is planning to travel across the country throughout August, including to defend GOP incumbents Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ and Zach Nunn’s key battleground seats in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.

He’ll boost candidates working to flip blue districts like Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District and Mike LiPetri in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.

Scalise also plans to travel to Michigan, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas for campaign events over the August recess.

Congress

Trump needles Cornyn as Blanche remains blocked

Published

9 hours ago

July 31, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump goaded John Cornyn on social media Friday morning, accusing the Texas senator of withholding his vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in retaliation for Trump’s central role in his political demise.

Cornyn, who lost his May primary to Texas’ scandal-ridden attorney general, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, has threatened to block Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee until the White House promises to permanently shelve its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” in writing — something Trump appears unwilling to do.

“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called “Fund,” which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Several Republicans bristled at the fund, which could have been deployed to compensate Americans who faced charges after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and which gives the president and his family audit immunity over taxes. At his July confirmation hearing, Blanche said that the fund, part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, was defunct. But the administration has been “reluctant to change” the text of the settlement, Cornyn told reporters Thursday.

Trump signaled his continued support for the Jan 6 rioters on Friday.

“I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!” he wrote. “Millions of people agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate, and so did John Cornyn, until he lost his Election to an opponent that I Endorsed.”

On Thursday, the president suggested that he could punt a Senate vote on Blanche until after Cornyn — and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — leaves the chamber at the end of the year. Cornyn, however, suggested on social media that there are other Republican senators with concerns about the fund.

“After the midterms, who knows who’s going to be the next United States senator from North Carolina or Texas?” Cornyn told reporters.

Congress

Capitol agenda: The Senate’s fly-out agenda takes shape

Published

10 hours ago

July 31, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans are prepping a jam-packed — if somewhat optimistic — agenda for their final week before summer recess.

Majority Leader John Thune wants to move stopgap funding through Dec. 11, bipartisan Russia sanctions legislation and a bloc of nominees — perhaps including attorney general pick Todd Blanche.

He’s also under pressure from President Donald Trump, administration officials and many of his GOP colleagues to adopt a budget resolution — the first step in unlocking another party-line spending bill.

Leaders are prioritizing the stopgap, though. Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) expects continuing resolution text to be unveiled later today, she told reporters Thursday, and an initial vote is expected Monday evening.

Still TBD: Collins wants to use the funding patch to block the Trump administration from putting political appointees in charge of approving grants — a demand Democratic senators are also making.

The decision is in Thune’s hands. He acknowledged a “handful of issues” are still under consideration with the CR, and said he’s “hoping both sides can come together and figure” them out.

As for the sanctions bill, leaders of both parties are still trying to work out a deal to fast-track the legislation amid concerns from some Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that it gives Trump too much tariff power.

In addition to the nominees package, Thune also hasn’t ruled out an initial vote on the landmark cryptocurrency bill both parties have spent months negotiating or teeing up a bipartisan college sports overhaul now in final stages of talks.

But the big question is whether Republicans can take a major step toward another reconciliation bill by advancing a budget resolution.

Thune met Thursday with Budget Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who said he was “optimistic in terms of how things are kind of coming together.”

Republicans anticipate giving a number of Senate committees instructions for the bill, setting up a lengthy and politically painful process ahead of adoption despite pushes for urgency from the White House.

Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was the latest official to head to Capitol Hill to try and light a fire under top Republicans. But GOP senators don’t necessarily see the urgency.

“The hard part is the president wants to be able to move fast, like an executive can move, and we’re a legislative branch,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). “It doesn’t move that fast.”

What else we’re watching:

— BLANCHE TEETERING: Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general isn’t dead yet. But it’s certainly on life support. The acting AG met with Cornyn and Tillis Thursday at NRSC headquarters, and one person familiar with the discussion said the group was “working collaboratively now.” But it would now be difficult to confirm him before August recess under Senate rules.

— FARM BILL TEXT: Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman said his farm bill legislative text — originally expected Thursday — could come Friday or Saturday. The bill, which is expected to include language allowing year-round E15 sales and a potential compromise on postponing GOP-led cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is set to be marked up Thursday.

Jordain Carney and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.