Congress

Grijalva ally weighs bid for top Natural Resources Democratic position

Published

2 years ago

December 3, 2024

Rep. Melanie Stansbury is touting support from top Natural Resources panel Democrat Raúl Grijalva as she tests the waters on a long-shot bid to succeed him, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Stansbury’s office told Blue Light News on Monday that she is “taking a serious look” at entering the race against Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the presumptive favorite who appears to be in a strong position to win.

The New Mexico Democrat, who joined the House in 2021, has quietly sounded out her congressional colleagues as she weighs a bid, the three people said. In messages to colleagues, she has stated that Grijalva asked her if she’d consider running with his support after he dropped out. She’s also highlighted a lack of female leadership at the top of the panel in conversations with colleagues.

Grijalva bowed out of the race on Monday, seemingly clearing the way for Huffman, a 60-year-old Californian with a decade of experience on the committee. Huffman has projected confidence in his position, with a source close to the congressman saying he has earned commitments from 133 colleagues, including 11 new pledges in the day since Grijalva dropped out.

The leadership transition comes as Democrats weigh whether to cast aside other senior committee heads. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) launched a bid against Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) to lead Judiciary Committee Democrats. Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), who has faced questions about his health and ability to lead the Agriculture Committee’s Democrats, is being challenged by Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.).

But Grijalva did not take kindly to Huffman challenging him as he returned from a long absence to receive cancer treatment, telling Blue Light News recently that he regretted the “pettiness of this whole thing” and adding he was confident he has done his job well in the top post.

Grijalva did not endorse or mention Huffman in his official post dropping out of the race Monday. Spokespeople for Grijalva and Stansbury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress

Republican leading AI effort has ambitious timeline for getting his bill through the House

Published

4 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Jay Obernolte has an aggressive timeline for getting his new bipartisan Artificial Intelligence proposal taken up in the House — and a path for getting a congressional hearing on a major part of the plan.

In an interview Monday night, the California Republican said he hoped to turn the draft framework he unveiled last Thursday into multiple bills, with the first expected to be introduced in the coming weeks. Each bill would be considered by its committee of jurisdiction.

“One of the challenges that we have is that the bill crosses so many different policy committee jurisdictions,” he said. “So I think we’ve got to divide it up into different titles that are in the jurisdiction of various policy committees and hear those individually.”

He said that the majority of the provisions contained in his 269-page blueprint for regulating AI — including the authorization for the Center for AI Standards and Innovation and the National AI Research Resource — would fall under the purview of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Incidentally, Obernolte said the Science panel — of which he is a member and chairs the Subcommittee on Research and Technology — was aiming to convene a hearing on AI at the end of the month, where his proposal could take center stage.

Obernolte ambitions, however, could quickly run up against reality: He and the Democratic co-architect of the proposal, Rep. Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, still need to sell their ideas to their respective party leaders and their colleagues, who are themselves sharply divided over what role the federal government should play in regulating the emerging technology.

But Monday night, Obernolte insisted he was continuing to talk to the White House about his effort, saying he was “cautiously optimistic” the administration would eventually back his bill, which would among other things override some state AI laws and require top developers to disclose the safety and security risks of their new models.

He also said he and Trahan were continuing to seek out additional co-sponsors beyond the original four who have committed to signing onto a formal piece of legislation: Reps. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Scott Franklin (R-Fla.) and Erin Houchin (R-Ind.)

Asked about feedback so far, Obernolte called it “pretty thoughtful,” and said criticism from both ends of the ideological spectrum has been fairly split.

“I would say that there’s a broad swath of people in the middle of the issue that are respected and thoughtful on the issue that have been praising the framework,” he said. “And then you’ve got voices on both sides — some that say that we’re not doing enough, some that say we’re doing too much — and the volume on both of those points of view have been about the same. So I think that’s an indication that we got it right.”

Congress

Republicans hope Trump retreats on Pulte to save spy law

Published

6 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Trump administration and congressional Democrats are locked in a high-stakes stalemate that’s dramatically increasing the likelihood that a major government surveillance program will expire.

Democrats have coalesced behind an ultimatum: They won’t support a reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as long as Bill Pulte, an ally of President Donald Trump with no national security experience, remains acting director of national intelligence. The White House is standing by Pulte, at least publicly, while accusing Democrats of holding the spy power “hostage” and putting the country’s “national security at risk.”

Congressional Republicans are largely leaving it to the administration to figure out a path forward after Trump’s decision to tap Pulte as Tulsi Gabbard’s temporary successor derailed an earlier agreement to extend the key spy authority for three years.

But they are also nudging the administration to pick a different nominee to fill the role in a permanent capacity. Pulte is among the subjects Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to discuss with Trump at the White House Tuesday, according to two people granted anonymity to disclose plans for the private meeting.

Unless Trump moves quickly — or one side blinks — lawmakers, aides and the administration are preparing to barrel past the June 12 deadline without an extension.

“I’d like to be involved in the middle of it, but I think it’s strictly — the way things are going — between the Democrats and the White House. It’s all got everything to do with Pulte,” Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in an interview Monday.

Asked if Pulte should be dropped, Grassley told reporters that he is “temporary” and “the sooner the president gets somebody nominated, the sooner we’re going to be able to get 702 through.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune added Monday that the administration “at some point is going to have to come up with a nominee … that will be viewed by at least enough Democrats as sufficient to get their support” for reauthorizing the surveillance law.

The law allows spy agencies to target foreigners overseas, but critics of both parties believe it currently lacks sufficient guardrails to prevent U.S. citizens from being spied on, too. That has made reauthorization a complicated endeavor even before Pulte became a factor.

“I’m familiar with some of the conversations that are happening around that,” Thune said when asked about whether Pulte should go. “I think I’ll let the White House speak to whatever the next plan might be there, but we can’t pass this on the floor without Democrats.”

Trump is interviewing potential nominees to permanently fill the director of national intelligence role, according to a Republican lawmaker and a GOP congressional aide, both of whom were granted anonymity to disclose private conversations. But there’s no guarantee that the president will move quickly, and Republicans said Monday they didn’t know if he would make a decision before Friday’s reauthorization deadline.

Because of a quirk in the statute underlying Section 702, the Trump administration would still be able to operate the program for several more months if it lapses. At least some tech providers could mount legal challenges to the program if it expires, however, which national security officials fear could temporarily limit visibility into surveillance targets under the law.

Behind the scenes, national security lawyers in the Trump administration are already working on contingency plans to backfill any gap in foreign intelligence collection, said one GOP congressional aide granted anonymity to speak candidly.

The administration is also having conversations with congressional Democrats and their staff, according to two other people granted anonymity to disclose private conversations. As part of those discussions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe have spoken directly to Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, according to one of the people.

Asked about talks with the administration, Warner declined to go into details but said that “we all know the time on the clock” and that “we want a path to get this done.” A spokesperson for Warner declined to comment Monday.

Spokespeople for the CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about ongoing conversations with Warner. And the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on conversations with Democrats or Warner specifically.

But White House spokesperson Davis Ingle defended Pulte in a statement Monday issued in response to questions about Pulte’s future and the prospects for a permanent nominee.

“Bill Pulte is a great selection and he will do a great job on behalf of the American people,” Ingle said. “Holding FISA hostage puts America’s national security at risk and it is shameful that some Democrats are threatening to put partisan politics ahead of the safety of the American people.”

Senate Democrats blocked a procedural vote Friday that would have paved the way for a three-year extension of the expiring spy power with some new transparency language and other policy changes. Seven Senate Republicans also voted against advancing the agreement, which was hashed out between Grassley and Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in coordination with Warner.

The administration will need roughly 15 Democrats, by Warner’s estimate, to get a yearslong reauthorization of Section 702 through the Senate. Congress has already punted the surveillance deadline twice since mid-April, but aides are skeptical that a bipartisan coalition of privacy hawks, who want more sweeping guardrails on the program, will agree this time to another short-term extension.

“I don’t know if there’s going to be an appetite for doing another extension or for what length,” Thune said Monday.

Johnson vowed Monday that Congress would not let the surveillance program expire. But he, too, is likely to need Democratic support given the narrow House GOP majority and the opposition in the Republican ranks.

As in the Senate, top House Democrats are warning not to count on their votes if the administration doesn’t reverse course on Pulte.

“The negotiations prior to Trump’s announcement with respect to Bill Pulte were already in a very sensitive place, and then Donald Trump, as he often does, tosses a hand grenade,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Monday.

Asked if he would let the spy authority expire, Jeffries added that there are “ongoing conversations” led by Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He added, though, that Pulte — whom he called a “political hack” and a “malignant clown” — should first be removed from the acting position.

Himes, who has defended the Section 702 program, said he had one conversation with the White House after Trump placed Pulte in the acting role. He warned that Republicans should not expect under the circumstances to win the 42 House Democratic votes that a prior short-term extension won earlier this year.

“It’s a total mess,” Himes said. “Very sadly, I think we’re going to test this untested question about whether the program can run on a judicial certification alone.”

Meredith Lee Hill, Mia McCarthy and Riley Rogerson contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate funding action stalled amid partisan stalemate on totals

Published

6 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins is accusing Democrats of refusing to negotiate government funding bills ahead of the September shutdown deadline and called off markups Monday night for the second week in a row.

Collins and the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator, Washington Sen. Patty Murray, have been trading offers on overall totals for funding the military and non-defense programs for the fiscal year that kicks off Oct. 1. But an agreement has yet to be reached, and Democrats don’t want to forge ahead until there is an understanding on the balance between defense and domestic spending in the face of President Donald Trump‘s request for $1.5 trillion for the military.

Collins said in a statement Monday night that top Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee “have made clear they are not willing to work with us to pass” government funding bills, adding that “their insistence that it is not possible to move forward without a topline agreement is not accurate.”

Murray said Republicans are simply insisting on too much defense spending and not enough cash for programs that fund domestic priorities, including infrastructure improvements, child care, education and nutrition assistance for low-income babies and pregnant mothers.

“We are not close,” Murray told reporters Monday night. “They have a very high defense number. We’re just not going to agree to that.”

Murray said Republicans also want to block Democrats from offering amendments to the funding bills.

Senate Republican appropriators met privately Monday night to discuss whether to proceed without the assurance that Democrats will support approving the funding bills in committee.

Leaving the meeting, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Democratic leaders have instructed their appropriators to oppose the government funding bills no matter what.

“I have received information off the record from one of my Democratic colleagues that they have instructions to vote no on any appropriations bill,” Kennedy told reporters. “So even if we did agree to everything they wanted, they would still vote no.”