Congress

Henry Cuellar faces opposition as he seeks to regain powerful spending post

Published

7 months ago

December 10, 2025

Some Democrats are uneasy about a push to restore Rep. Henry Cuellar to a powerful committee role following a pardon from President Donald Trump, potentially complicating his bid to regain influence over federal spending.

Cuellar relinquished his post as the top Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing Homeland Security funding in 2024 after he was indicted on federal corruption charges. But following Trump’s pardon last week, party leaders have indicated that he is now eligible to retake the post under caucus rules.

But not all of his fellow House Democrats are comfortable with a lawmaker accused of bribery and other offenses regaining direct control over more than $60 billion in annual spending, especially with a parallel Ethics Committee investigation still in motion. Compounding these concerns are Cuellar’s relatively conservative views on border policy and his potential sway over the budgets for agencies including Border Patrol and ICE.

The matter is in the hands of the 27 Democratic members of the House Appropriations Committee, who are set to take a secret ballot vote Thursday to determine Cuellar’s future on the panel.

Several have private misgivings, and the fact that the vote is even happening means at least one Democratic appropriator privately objected to Cuellar’s return as ranking member. Otherwise, he would have been approved by acclamation.

“That position is critical — it’s Homeland Security,” said a Democratic appropriator granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. “Your moral values are important — at least mine are — and I can’t look at myself in the mirror and vote for him.”

Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, who has served as the top Democrat on Homeland Security since Cuellar was indicted, could vote to keep Cuellar out so she can keep the job. Another appropriator, Rep. Grace Meng of New York, said Wednesday she was undecided on the matter.

Other wild cards include Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, who led a push to formally reprimand a Democratic colleague last month, and Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois, who might vote in state solidarity with Underwood. Quigley had been leapfrogged by a more senior lawmaker who returned to the panel and has voiced criticism of Democratic leaders since then.

A spokesperson for Cuellar declined to comment.

The veteran Texas Democrat has been quietly canvassing members about regaining his role and reassuring those in his party who question the optics of wiping away an indictment sought by former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department at a time when the party is focusing on Trump’s alleged ethical violations.

Top party leaders have not weighed in directly on the matter. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday that Cuellar was likely to regain his committee leadership position, citing the caucus rules, while Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Appropriations Democrat, in a statement merely acknowledged the Thursday vote.

“We are holding a meeting tomorrow to discuss several issues, including who will serve as Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee,” the statement said.

The dilemma comes as some Democrats are making a high-profile push to police ethical transgressions in the party ranks. Last month, almost two dozen Democrats led by Gluesenkamp Perez broke ranks to reprimand outgoing Illinois Rep. Chuy García for apparently engineering his surprise retirement announcement to ensure a favored ally would succeed him.

Democrats have railed against Trump’s use of his clemency powers, which has benefited political allies and major donors. Cuellar’s pardon puts him in the company of such figures as former Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich and ex-Rep. George Santos, who are odious to Democrats.

“I’ve had nothing but good interactions with Henry in Congress, but we can’t be the party of following the law and say it’s just fine to break it and get a pardon from Trump,” said Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who is running for Senate.

Several other Democrats this week aired criticism of Trump’s pardons without specifically commenting on Cuellar and his bid to regain power inside the Democratic Caucus.

“President Trump’s continued efforts to pardon politicians that are either convicted or accused of corruption is just wrong,” said Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.). “And this is exactly the kind of problem that causes so many Americans to lose trust and faith in our politics.”

Kim, a former member of the House, succeeded Sen. Bob Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who is currently serving a prison sentence for bribery and other charges.

“I don’t agree with any of the president’s pardons of members of Congress,” said Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), who is also running for Senate.

Cuellar was indicted on federal corruption charges that alleged he took some $600,000 in bribes from foreign entities. Still, the veteran lawmaker remains largely popular with his fellow Democrats, some of whom argued that with the indictment wiped away, the process had run its course.

“Under our system of laws, you’re still innocent until proven guilty,” said Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.). “He was indicted but never went to trial — was never proven to be guilty, never proven to be innocent, because there was no trial, but the pardon overrides that. That’s how the ball bounces.”

Others deflected criticism to Trump, who suggested in social media posts after the pardon that he expected Cuellar to retire or switch parties and run as a Republican in a gesture of gratitude. Instead Cuellar filed for re-election as a Democrat almost immediately after the pardon came through, and with the legal cloud over his campaign lifted, it increases the chances his seat will remain in Democratic hands in 2026.

“Nothing else seems to compare to this president and the abuse of the pardon power to get things he wants, including potentially people switching their party affiliation,” said Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio).

Cuellar’s allies quietly insist he shouldn’t be sidelined given his unique ability to win a South Texas district that Republicans have targeted for years — and recently redrew in hopes of ousting him. Now, with the pardon, even some Republicans acknowledge he’s in prime position to remain in Congress — and potentially hold a gavel next year if the majority flips.

“He’s going to have a very merry Christmas,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

Calen Razor and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report

Congress

Senate Ethics dismisses allegations against Ruben Gallego

Published

1 hour ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed allegations of misconduct levied against Sen. Ruben Gallego, who stood accused by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of “campaign finance violations and inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature.”

The charges came following the resignation of the Arizona Democrat’s longtime friend, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who was forced to step down amid accusations of serious sexual misconduct. Luna, a Florida Republican, sought to implicate Gallego by claiming in an interview on CBS that a woman would come forward about an “incident that occurred between the two of them at the same time and the event was sexual in nature allegedly.”

But in a letter to Gallego sent Monday — which he shared in a public news release — the notoriously inactive Ethics Committee cited Gallego’s “prompt contact with the Committee following media reports of the allegations and appreciated your full cooperation with the Committee throughout the investigation.”

Gallego has maintained he was unaware of the allegations against Swalwell and said in a statement he was a victim of “right-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists like Anna Paulina Luna, the White House, and their allies.”

He continued, “I look forward to an apology from Rep. Luna for weaponizing the ethics process while refusing to investigate historic corruption that’s making life harder for families.”

Luna, in a post on X, defended her referral to the Senate Ethics Committee.

“The good news about DC is everyone talks, and eventually the reporters come forward with your texts,” Luna wrote on social media. “Do yourself a favor and keep raising for your legal defense fund. Once a creep always a creep, and you’re gonna need it.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s state. She represents Florida.

Congress

Rubio, Witkoff to brief Congress on Iran

Published

5 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Top deputies of President Donald Trump will brief Congress on the Iran peace talks in a Monday conference call — the first time administration officials have addressed a broad group of lawmakers since Trump signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Tehran earlier this month.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, will lead the briefing for all House and Senate members at 4 p.m., according to seven people granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Republicans and Democrats have called for more transparency about the 14-point agreement inked on June 18, which initiated a cease-fire between the two countries. Since then, the U.S. and Iran have continued to engage in hostilities.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Red, white and GOP hard-liner blues

Published

7 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Republicans finally cleared a runway this week to finish some of their top legislative priorities before the July 4 recess.

That is, unless a small band of hard-liners trip up those plans at takeoff.

Speaker Mike Johnson is hoping to move quickly to pass fiscal 2027 appropriations legislation, the annual defense policy bill and a kids online safety bill that has been years in the making. The movement comes after President Donald Trump instructed GOP hard-liners to stop holding up a procedural vote amid a protest from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and others that the Senate hadn’t passed Trump’s election security bill.

But Luna and other hard-liners are still threatening to tank the procedural vote that could delay the defense policy bill and other measures until they get concessions on the SAVE America Act, amid other demands.

Johnson, for example, had also promised hard-liners a vote before July 4 on a sweeping GOP immigration bill introduced in the prior Congress as H.R. 2, which is highly unlikely to happen.

Johnson for his part has said the House will “pass the SAVE America Act again” by folding parts of it into a third party-line reconciliation bill. But the slimmed-down version he’d need to pursue in order to meet strict Senate rules for the budget process is already being panned by hard-liners as insufficient.

That reconciliation bill is also already delayed. House Republicans aren’t on track to meet their goal of advancing its framework before the July 4 recess as members on the Budget panel balked over how to pay for the legislation in a closed-door meeting last week.

“Time is of the essence, given how many legislative days we have,” House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, who is sponsoring the kids online safety legislation, said in an interview last week. “If we lose a week, that would be important.”

Meanwhile, Democratic leadership is grappling with their own heated internal divisions this week. Members are split over supporting the adoption of an amendment to a fiscal 2027 spending bill from Rep. Thomas Massie that would end Israel aid and cut the overall foreign military aid program by $3.3 billion.

Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro did not instruct her colleagues on how to vote during a rare Sunday evening caucus call, two sources granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting tell Mia and Riley. Leaders did, however, criticize the amendment as poorly written.

One other item this week that could split members of each party: House lawmakers are also slated to vote on a rewritten war powers resolution from Rep. Rashida Tlaib to reign in Trump administration military actions in Lebanon. Leadership worked with Tlaib to come up with new language last month that is expected to garner more Dem support, but the resolution is still expected to fail without GOP votes.

What else we’re watching:

— SENATE GOP GETS ANTSY ABOUT NOMINATIONS: Some Republican senators are unsettled by Trump’s apparent lack of urgency in filling vacant posts, even as GOP control of the chamber beyond the midterms 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. “We’re running short on time,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a member of Senate HELP, which oversees health, labor and other issues.

—RICK SCOTT SAYS HE’S JUST TRYING TO HELP: Fresh off his controversial Trump invite to a Senate GOP lunch last week, Sen. Rick Scott told Blue Light News in an interview he’s trying to make a mark — not trying to challenge Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Scott insists that neither his invitation to the president nor a letter he circulated afterward outlining how the Senate GOP should be preparing for the midterms should be seen as a prelude to a leadership challenge. The Florida Republican said he’s perfectly happy running the conference’s conservative Steering Committee and predicted Thune would easily secure another term as 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.

Meredith Lee Hill, Riley Rogerson, Alex Gangitano, Jordain Carney and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.