Congress

Hakeem Jeffries is seizing on the shutdown fight to raise his national profile

Published

9 months ago

October 2, 2025

Hakeem Jeffries has spent nearly three years in relative anonymity as House minority leader. Now the New York Democrat is treating the government shutdown fight as a potential breakout moment.

Shedding his reputation as a cool, careful and sometimes overly calculating leader, Jeffries has staked out a much more aggressive approach in recent weeks as he and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer careened into a confrontation with President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

While the GOP leaders have so far been more eager to dog his fellow Brooklynite — calling it a “Schumer shutdown,” for instance, after Senate Democrats withheld their votes for a House-passed stopgap bill — Jeffries has made conspicuous moves to make himself a main character in the standoff.

More precisely, he has tried to pick a fight with Trump — first accusing him of not knowing his name, then calling a deepfake video the president posted depicting Jeffries in a sombrero and mustache “racist,” demanding Trump address any further criticism“to my face,” and telling Trump budget chief Russ Vought to “get lost,” among other attacks.

“The president has been engaging in irresponsible and unserious behavior, demonstrating that all along, Republicans wanted to shut the government down,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday, shortly before he posted a unflattering meme of Vice President JD Vance on his X account.

The tenor of his sparring has contrasted with that of Schumer, who has steered away from calling the deepfake video racist and has instead called it part of a “tantrum” that proves Trump is not serious about negotiating an end to the shutdown. It’s also a departure from Jeffries’ predecessor, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose favored tactic in dealing with Trump was the cutting offhand remark.

But Jeffries’ more bombastic approach is winning praise from elements of the party that want to see more fight out of their leaders.

“They are in the minority over there, and they’re a majoritarian body where the minority has very little voice in terms of affecting the outcomes of events like this,” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). “And so he’s showing what an oppositional party leader should do — a lot of fight, a lot of strength — and frankly, the ability to keep Democrats united on the other side of the Capitol.“

Whether he has earned the respect that he so clearly seeks remains unsettled. Trump still has yet to utter Jeffries’ name in public. He referred to him Tuesday to reporters as “a very nice gentleman who I didn’t really know — you know who I’m talking about.”

But after posting the first AI-generated video Monday that had Schumer doing all the talking and Jeffries simply appearing mustachioed in the background, Trump posted another video Tuesday solely starring a deepfaked Jeffries.

Vance chimed in Wednesday from the White House: “I will tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make a solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop.”

Trump might be forgiven for not having Jeffries’ name on the tip of his tongue. Unlike with Schumer — whom Trump has known for decades and was a frequent sparring partner during his first term — Jeffries had no substantial interaction with the president before Monday’s Oval Office meeting.

As House minority leader, he holds the least power of the four top congressional leaders — unlike senators, Democrats in the chamber can be completely sidelined by a united GOP majority — and he is not well known nationally.

Just under half of Americans have never heard of him, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, versus about a quarter for Schumer, who has held his top position since 2017. Before Pelosi stepped down from a 20-year run as the top House Democrat, only 3 percent of Americans surveyed told Pew they’d never heard of her.

Ahead of the sitdown, Jeffries spoke about Trump with an ally who has long experience dealing with the president — civil rights leader Al Sharpton. He said in an interview that in the weekend conversation that otherwise focused on the New York City mayoral race, Jeffries said he didn’t know what to expect out of the meeting.

“I told him I’ve been fighting with Trump for 35 years, from the Central Park Five all the way through, and [that] sometimes he tried to act nice,” Sharpton said. “I said, ‘I find him to be a day trader — he says whatever will work to his advantage at that particular time. I don’t think Donald Trump believes in anything but Donald Trump.’ And Hakeem kind of chuckled.”

After walking out of the White House, Jeffries hewed closely to health-care-focused talking points that he and Schumer have carefully honed since infamously diverging on a prior GOP-written spending bill back in March.

Then Trump posted the AI-generated video, and Jeffries let loose, calling it “bigoted” and then “racist and fake.” It was a response that stunned some of his colleagues, who agreed with the assessment but also knew Jeffries had long counseled Democrats not to take Trump’s “bait.”

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), a longtime Jeffries ally, said it was the first time he’d ever heard the leader call a personal attack “racist.”

“I was furious, and no one would blame the leader if he said I didn’t want to be around this guy or get somebody else to take my place to interact with the White House,” Cleaver said. “He’s going to be a professional about it.”

“It was blatant. It was personal. It was insulting. And I think that Hakeem had to respond for his own self-respect,” added Sharpton.

Asked about Jeffries’ response, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “Anyone who’s feigning outrage over a perfect meme should instead focus on the countless Americans who will suffer as a result of the Democrat shutdown.”

That Jeffries mounted a more aggressive response than Schumer to Trump’s attacks is of little consequence in terms of the shutdown fight. Besides his own personal feelings, some Democrats noted it reflects the more rough-and-tumble style in the House and voters’ desire for a more pugilistic approach to Trump.

But there have also been small tactical differences between the two leaders that could get magnified as the standoff wears on. Notably, Jeffries has staked out some harder lines than Schumer — insisting, for instance, that any health care agreement be in writing and attached to any bill reopening the government, while Schumer has left room to cut an unwritten side deal.

One prominent House Democrat believes Jeffries has been handling himself well.

“He has seized the moment,” Pelosi said in a brief interview. “He’s doing a great job. I have no guidance for him except to keep on doing what he’s doing.”

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

Republicans get antsy about confirmations as the Senate hangs in the balance

Published

2 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump is showing little urgency in sending nominations to the Senate even as the GOP’s control of the chamber beyond 2026 is increasingly in doubt.

There are more than two dozen federal court vacancies. Labor secretary, FDA commissioner and scores of other open positions do not have nominees, and a senior White House official said Trump is in no rush to fill them.

“Ultimately, we need to have the right people in those positions,” said the official, who was granted anonymity to describe internal thinking. “So if it’s acting for now, so be it. If [it] takes a little while to find that perfect person, then it takes a little while.”

That’s unsettling some Republican senators who are anxious to fill spots ahead of the midterms, a daunting task given the legislative calendar and host of competing GOP priorities.

“We’re running short on time,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate HELP Committee, which oversees health, labor and other issues. “We’d love to get at least one or two of them and get it in the next tranche.”

As far as judges, Tuberville said he wants to see “as many as we can get” nominated, adding, “I don’t know why we don’t have more.”

Trump’s apparent nonchalance — particularly over judges — is a marked departure from his first term, when he opined that appointing people to the bench might be the “single most important thing you do” as president. But as the Senate left for a two-week recess Thursday, there were only 10 nominees pending for 29 judicial vacancies.

The vacancies come amid ongoing tensions between the Senate and Trump, who has put pressure on the chamber to pass the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act, going so far as to cancel a planned Wednesday signing of a bipartisan housing bill.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he “absolutely” wants to see the president nominate more judges before the end of the year. Texas has three court vacancies with zero nominees.

“And that’s one of his greatest legacies, both first term and second,” Cruz said of Trump.

Trump is on pace with his first term in total confirmations in part because Republicans changed the Senate rules last year to confirm slates of civilian posts at once by a simple majority vote.

One tranche confirmed in Mayincluded 49 nominees, from ambassadors to midlevel posts at various federal agencies. So far, 502 of Trump’s second-term nominees have been confirmed, compared to 509 at this point during his first term and 601 at the same point during former President Joe Biden’s term.

Federal judges and members of the Cabinet still have to be confirmed individually, despite the rule change for other posts.

Trump inherited only about 40 judicial vacancies for his current term, fewer than any president since Ronald Reagan. Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) previously complained that the White House hasn’t nominated more judges. More recently, though, he’s blaming his committee for not acting more quickly on the already pending nominees.

“Right now it’s hard for me to blame the White House when in the last three executive weeks, we were supposed to have meetings to vote judges out, we couldn’t have enough members present,” Grassley said in an interview.

A White House official said “Trump plans to nominate well qualified individuals to fill these vacancies.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said he’s had “a couple good discussions” with the White House about a circuit court vacancy, which he expects the administration to fill. As a Judiciary Committee member, he can block any nominee that doesn’t get support from Democrats.

“If it’s somebody I support, I’ll vote for them. If it’s somebody I don’t support, I’ll vote no,” Kennedy said. “It’s an important spot. They know I’m on Judiciary, and they know I’ll vote no if I don’t agree.”

The Labor secretary and FDA commissioner picks, meanwhile, go through the HELP committee — chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who lost his primary last month after Trump endorsed a challenger.

Republicans have been left in the dark about those nominees, some on the panel say.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said he’s heard “nothing at all” and “radio silence” from administration. Another GOP senator, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they’ve heard nothing from the administration about its thinking or plans for a Labor secretary nominee specifically.

The HELP Committee membership poses challenges for the administration. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) previously expressed concerns about Casey Means’ nomination as surgeon general before Trump pulled her, for example. And the dynamic between the president and the chair could be a hurdle, three people granted anonymity to comment on the process said.

“Why give Cassidy a platform to get back at DJT?” one of them said.

Another, a GOP senator, predicted Cassidy would “play games” with nominees who have to go through his committee.

“I really don’t think a lot of senators are in any mood to give the president any wins because they’re frustrated with him,” said the third person, who is close to the White House.

But confirming nominees before he leaves the Senate could be a priority for Cassidy, one of the few Republican doctors to push the administration toward public health nominees who align with established science on issues like vaccines.

A potential successor — Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — is a critic of the vaccine and masking standards set during the pandemic and would likely set the committee on a different path.

Recent appointees such as Nicole Saphier for surgeon general and Erica Schwartz for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director are more mainstream than some past HHS appointees like Means and Dave Weldon, who was nominated for CDC director before the administration determined he didn’t have the votes.

Those nominees have been moving through the regular process, including meeting with Cassidy and other senators ahead of confirmation hearings.

Cassidy told reporters after he lost his primary that he would “vote for the good of my country and the good of my state.”

“There’s some nominees that have not gotten through committee for whatever reason, so that’s not anything new,” he added. “That’ll just be part of the process.”

A HELP Committee spokesperson added Thursday that Cassidy has voted for every Trump nominee and that the panel will “do its job to confirm qualified nominees and serve the American people.”

“Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” the spokesperson added.

The White House official said “Trump remains committed to nominating highly qualified individuals for a variety of posts that are aligned with the agenda the American people elected him to enact” and will continue to send nominees to the Senate, including to the HELP Committee.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview he had not spoken to the White House about their plans for some of the major picks under HELP jurisdiction but he encouraged the administration to send nominees.

“I think it’s always better to have people in permanent positions rather than temporary,” Thune added.

Megan Messerly contributed to this report.

Congress

Rick Scott says he’s just trying to help

Published

2 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rick Scott swears he’s not up to something.

Fresh speculation about the Florida Republican’s ambitions erupted again in recent days after he invited President Donald Trump to address the Senate at an especially sensitive moment — and without Majority Leader John Thune’s express approval. Then, he circulated a letter outlining how he thought the Senate GOP should be preparing for the November midterms.

But Scott insists those who see this as a prelude to a leadership challenge have it all wrong. Sitting in his Senate office less than 24 hours after hosting Trump, he told Blue Light News he’s perfectly happy running the conference’s conservative Steering Committee and predicted Thune would easily secure another term as leader.

“There won’t be a vote,” he said, adding that he’s “fine” with Thune continuing in the position.

“Here’s what I don’t get,” Scott continued, expressing exasperation with the palace intrigue. “Other people get to put out their position. If I put out mine, then I want to be leader?”

What has become eminently clear in recent weeks is that Scott — after a long career in business, two terms as governor and nearly eight years as senator — just isn’t a back-bench kind of guy.

He has lots of thoughts on how the Senate should be run and a willingness to express them, even if it puts him at odds with Thune’s vision. The leader, who trounced Scott in a 2024 conference election, has largely avoided holding doomed votes that would split Republicans and, like many GOP senators, would like nothing more than to get past the monthslong intraparty fight over the SAVE America Act, the elections bill pushed by Trump.

“One thing we can do up here is, we can take votes,” Scott said. “Even if they’re not going to pass, we each show people where we are versus the other side. And so, one thing that surprises me is, why don’t we take votes? … Let’s show people.”

Scott hosts a regular Wednesday lunch for senators and invited Trump in that capacity.

Scott’s incarnation as a conservative thought leader is only his latest attempt to stay in the thick of the action in a body where obscurity can be hard to avoid. His stint running the GOP Senate campaign arm ahead of the 2022 midterms was controversial and ended with Democrats beating historical headwinds and slightly expanding their bare majority.

He annoyed colleagues with his policy of not intervening in contested Republican primaries and infuriated some of them by promulgating a policy agenda through his personal political operation that they hadn’t agreed to.

That did not deter Scott from challenging then-Minority Leader Mitch McConnell after the election that year, garnering only 10 votes of 47. He tried again after McConnell stepped down as leader two years later. Scott won 13 votes in a three-way race, but Thune ultimately prevailed.

Thune, unlike McConnell, doesn’t have an openly antagonistic relationship with Scott. He said in an interview that the Florida Republican has done a “great job” as Steering chair. It is in that role that Scott convenes the weekly Wednesday senators’ lunch and invited Trump to attend.

“He brings people in that help inform our conversations and discussions about some of the major policy issues,” Thune said. “I’m very supportive of what he’s doing.”

One Senate Republican who was granted anonymity to speak candidly said that Scott had earned “street cred” within the conference for how he’s run the Steering Committee. He has brought in Trump, Elon Musk and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, among others, underscoring his connections with key luminaries in the contemporary GOP.

For now, the Steering position and his close ally’s return to the White House have given him renewed influence and a base of support outside of leadership, where multiple Republicans are viewed as potential contenders to succeed Thune if he decides to retire in 2028 or beyond.

Scott isn’t up for reelection until 2030, and he did not guarantee in the interview that he would stick around the Senate indefinitely.

“I’ve done this. I’ve tried different stuff,” he said. “So we’ll see.”

He had been the subject of past speculation about a presidential run but made clear in the interview he’s not interested in a Cabinet position because “I was 25 years old the last time I worked for somebody.” His future, he said, will revolve around the question, “Am I being productive?”

The GOP senator granted anonymity said he doesn’t think Scott will run for leader again in November but acknowledged that Scott is viewed as ambitious and that there’s “not a lot of ways to go up” in the Senate absent running for leader or president.

“Rick, appropriately, properly feels he’s got more to contribute,” the senator added. “I hope he feels a certain sense of satisfaction about his leadership on the Steering Committee because he really has made it great.”

Elon Musk was another of Scott's prominent lunch guests.

For now, Scott’s sense of productivity has certainly been boosted by his dealings with and loyalty to Trump.

“President Trump works great with Senator Scott and has appreciated his efforts to advance the President’s America First agenda in the Senate — including urging a path forward for the SAVE America Act,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

A person familiar with the administration’s thinking, granted anonymity to speak candidly, attested to Scott’s “deep relationships” across the administration, pointing to Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in addition to the president himself.

“Trump remembers the people who were with him” between his two presidential terms, the person said, adding that Trump “also respects ‘successful’ people and Rick may be the most successful business person in the Senate.”

Last week’s lunch invitation grew out of a conversation between Trump and Scott, though the meeting did not go as Scott had planned. Notes from Scott’s introduction obtained by Blue Light News show he wanted to spark a policy-driven conversation focused on three issues: the future of the Senate filibuster, passage of the SAVE America Act and preventing another government shutdown.

Instead, Trump came into the closed-door meeting “pissed” over a symbolic vote the previous day on the Iran war, Scott said, and quickly got into a back-and-forth with retiring Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on that issue. Trump proceeded to mostly air his grievances at senators rather than engage in any productive back-and-forth, attendees said.

Still, Scott said, “something positive” came out of the meeting because hours later Republicans defeated a different Iran war powers resolution. And he predicted there would be a “renewed emphasis” on the GOP elections bill that Trump views as his No. 1 priority.

He pointed to three potential paths forward for the SAVE America Act: attempting a “talking filibuster” that would force Democrats to hold the floor in order to block the bill, breaking the voting bill up into pieces or trying to include it in a party-line budget reconciliation bill, which would require precedent-breaking moves many GOP senators oppose.

Only the talking filibuster option, Scott believes, has a possible chance of success, and he urged Thune and his other colleagues to consider it.

“I think the right way is, let’s put it on the floor,” he said. “Maybe we should take all of August and do it. It is the most important thing to Americans, and it actually is important.”

Many of his colleagues don’t share his optimism, and it could be difficult to get enough senators interested in voting to even restart debate on the bill given the high level of frustration within the conference.

Asked about that frustration, Scott cut in: “[Then] don’t do it. Hey, I’m just saying, here’s how I look at life — I’m one senator.”

Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.

Congress

Johnson says he will send housing bill to Trump on Monday

Published

19 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Speaker Mike Johsnon said he plans to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan housing bill Monday, just days after the president abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation after Congress failed to pass his elections security act.

Speaking with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson said the 21st Century ROAD To Housing Act is a Republican priority for lowering costs for Americans.

“I’m going to send the bill over to him on Monday, and it will become law,” the Louisiana Republican told host Maria Bartiromo. “I certainly want him to take the biggest, boldest marker that he has and do that big Trump signature proudly on that legislation because we’re delivering for the people, and that’s what he wants to do.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Johnson’s remarks.

The bill is the product of almost a year of back-and-forth between all four congressional corners and aims to increase affordability by boosting housing supply and home ownership. It passed both chambers of Congress with wide bipartisan support.

Trump was scheduled to sign the bill into law last week but canceled the ceremony “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”

Trump’s SAVE America Act would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end mail-in voting. Trump has also said he would like the bill to include prohibitions on transgender athletes competing. But Republican leaders have repeatedly indicated the legislation does not have enough votes to pass.

Congressional leaders appeared taken aback by Trump’s signing cancellation, but Johnson on Sunday said he and the president have since met in the Oval Office to discuss the housing bill “in great detail.”

“We made a lot of promises to the voters, and we’re fulfilling those every single day of this Congress,” Johnson said. “This is a big part of that because this will increase the availability, the access to more housing, bring down cost, cut regulations, do the things we know are very important for that market. The president and I talked about that at length. Of course he wants to do those things.”

But if Trump does not sign the housing bill into law within the next few days, it would still become law unless he were to veto it. Congress also has the power to override a presidential veto.