Congress
Hill Republicans rejoice over Burgum pick for Interior
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for Interior secretary, he announced at a gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida Thursday night.
“I won’t tell you his name, might be something like Burgum, Burgum, … he’s gonna be announced tomorrow for a very big position,” Trump said Thursday evening. “he’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s gonna be fantastic. Good Doug.”
A two-term governor of a Western oil-rich state with five tribal nations, Burgum is already receiving a warm reception from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who for four years have slammed President Joe Biden’s energy policies. Democrats will be unhappy with his promises to ramp up fossil fuel production but could be less critical of him because of his experience.
Republicans who sit on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee were quick to praise the nomination.
Current ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said of Burgum: “He recognizes how important our federal lands are for energy and mineral production, grazing and recreation. As North Dakota’s governor, he’s shown he can balance environmental stewardship with record energy development.”
North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said Burgum “has been a great partner as we’ve worked to build North Dakota’s energy leadership, and in this role, [he] can help to not only restore American energy security, but make America energy-dominant.”
The nomination will likely come as welcome news to many other senators, like Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who hoped Trump would pick a Westerner.
“Guys who know the issues,” Sullivan said earlier this week. “You gotta have a Westerner.”
Both of Trump’s Interior secretaries in his first term also heaped praise on Burgum. One of them, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who now serves in the House, said Burgum was an ally.
“When I was secretary he was a trusted partner advancing the president’s priorities on energy dominance, rolling back the regulatory overreach of the Obama Administration, and ensuring we strike the right balance regarding the multiple uses of our federal lands,” in a post to X.
If he’s confirmed, Burgum, a businessman who became North Dakota governor in 2016 and had a short-lived campaign for the presidency in 2024, will control the country’s public lands and wildlife conservation and have broad authority over oil and gas drilling leases.
As a presidential candidate and Trump surrogate who was once considered for vice president, Burgum has called for expanded energy and mineral production on public lands and has been a chief messenger against Democratic energy and public lands policies.
Democrats are likely to pounce on Burgum’s calls for increased energy production during the confirmation process. But at least one top Democrats is taking a wait-and-see approach with Burgum.
“Could be worse for sure,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), a senior member of the House Natural Resources Committee. “I look forward to trying to work productively with him.”
Environmental advocacy groups, however, are already coming out against Burgum’s nomination, claiming he will sacrifice public lands and wildlife for the fossil fuel industry.
“Burgum will be a disastrous Secretary of the Interior who’ll sacrifice our public lands and endangered wildlife on the altar of the fossil fuel industry’s profits,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Like Musk, Burgum is an oligarch completely out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Americans who cherish our natural heritage and don’t want our parks, wildlife refuges and other special places carved up and destroyed.”
Suckling said, “We’re ready to fight Burgum and Trump’s extreme agenda every step of the way.”
Andres Picon contributed to this report.
Adam Hamilton raised $10.6 million in the third quarter of 2026 across his Senate campaign and his joint fundraising committees, his campaign tells Blue Light News, a significant haul for the Kansas Democrat.
The fundraising total illustrates Democrats’ newfound bullishness about flipping a Senate seat in the deep-red state for the first time since 1932.
“This grassroots support sends a clear message: with three weeks until Election Day, Adam Hamilton is building the momentum to win,” said Hamilton campaign spokesperson Tyson Brody.
Hamilton’s third-quarter figure is nearly triple his $3.66 million second-quarter total. His campaign did not provide a current cash-on-hand total.
National Democrats began pumping money into Kansas in recent days, a sign of their growing hopes that Hamilton could win. Last week, Senate Majority PAC — Senate Democrats’ top super PAC — reserved $5 million in television ads backing Hamilton. American Bridge PAC and Lower Costs Now, a new group affiliated with former Vice President Kamala Harris’ super PAC, have spent in Kansas in recent weeks.
Republicans have also flocked to Kansas to prop up Marshall: Senate Leadership Fund, the Senate GOP’s top PAC, has spent or reserved nearly $11 million backing Marshall in the past week, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
“It took us five months to raise $15 million. [Marshall] got it in a day,” Hamilton said at a campaign event in Lawrence, Kansas on Monday. “So please help us.”
Marshall’s campaign has yet to release his third-quarter fundraising totals. As of mid-July, Marshall had over $5 million in the bank to $1.73 million for Hamilton.
A bipartisan Senate duo is urging Trump national security officials to “bring its full capacities to bear” to stave off threats posed by artificial intelligence — sooner rather than later.
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, and Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who serves on the Senate Armed Services cybersecurity subcommittee, are calling for a full government response to a growing number of cybersecurity breaches.
“Recent AI security incidents should serve as a warning,” the senators wrote in a Tuesday letter to Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and White House Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. “Advanced AI agents have escaped testing environments, bypassed safeguards, and gained unauthorized access to real-world systems owned by government agencies and private organizations.”
Spokespeople for Clayton and Kratsios did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Their letter comes as lawmakers struggle to hash out what legislation on AI safety, if any, might look like. Members are currently in recess ahead of the November elections and there’s little hope progress can be made by the year’s end.
But those lawmakers who have been engaged on the topic for years now have mapped out administrative actions the Trump administration could move on now, without waiting on Congress.
The Cantwell and Rounds priorities include: strengthening federal AI safety and security standards at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST; expanding independent testing capabilities at the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence, Department of Energy and the national labs; and working with the tech industry to develop and deploy defensive AI tools.
Specifically, the senators wrote, new NIST standards should address the risks posed by advanced AI capabilities, including the “potential misuse by malicious actors” to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks, automate attacks at scale and agents that threaten external systems and critical infrastructure.
They also said the federal government capacity should be complemented by universities and other research organizations, as well as by private sector, third-party evaluators.
Finally, they point to ways the government could use existing programs at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to work with AI labs to help detect threats and reinforce vulnerable systems.
A bipartisan group of senators urged President Donald Trump to rescind his recent diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, amid bubbling anger on Capitol Hill about Trump’s announcement.
In a letter sent to the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the senators warned that the president’s deal with Russia will not “achieve just ends” or benefit Americans.
“Granting Moscow the ability to sell Russian diesel freely in global markets damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, who continue to defend themselves from Putin’s murderous, illegal war,” wrote the lawmakers, led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “This deal is a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies; it should be rescinded.”
On Sunday, a smaller group of senators called on the president to “immediately reverse course” on the plan in a statement. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — who signed on to both — said Sunday there may be “a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump announced in a social media post on Friday that Russia would “immediately supply” diesel fuel to global markets — including potentially the U.S. — to help relieve high prices driven, in part, by the ongoing war with Iran. Though Trump has repeatedly defended the U.S.’s actions against Iran, on Saturday he demanded an end to Ukrainian drone strikes that have crippled Russian oil refineries that he argues have caused the record-high oil prices.
The senators on Tuesday argued that the deal with Russia will have a “negligible impact” on fuel prices while providing Putin with “more fuel to finance his war machine” as Russia continues its “brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians.”
The deal with Russia is a sharp pivot from a sweeping sanctions package signed into law last month. That legislation — championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — was meant to deplete Moscow’s resources by targeting Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of oil tankers. It drew widespread bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.
Senators on Tuesday referenced the package as they condemned Putin as a “tyrant.”
“For decades, America has stood as the bastion of freedom against tyranny, and American presidents have embodied our nation’s resistance to tyrants. Putin is a tyrant,” the letter reads. “Withdraw from this agreement, rescind General License No. 135, and execute the authorities provided under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. Maintain our legacy – and the duty America holds – as leader of the free world.”
In addition to Blumenthal and Tillis, Tuesday’s letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Jack Reed (R.I.), and Chris Coons (Del.) and Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine), Alan Armstrong (Okla.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and John Cornyn (Texas).
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