Congress

House eyes Friday vote on stopgap as partisan tensions flare

Published

1 year ago

September 17, 2025

Republican leaders vowed Wednesday to barrel forward with a stopgap funding bill in the coming days as Democrats threatened to oppose it in favor of their own alternative — raising the chances for an Oct. 1 government shutdown.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters Wednesday morning that a vote on the GOP-written bill unveiled Tuesday is expected “likely Friday” amid Democratic objections about a lack of bipartisan negotiations.

“We’re going to do our job, and that’s all we can do, is do our job,” he said. “If Democrats want to shut the government down and continue to hold America hostage because they don’t like the results of the election, the American people are fed up with that kind of childish politics.”

While House GOP leaders have pushed their members for earlier action, they believe Friday morning is the likeliest option for the vote. Hard-liners and others are pushing leaders to stick to the chamber’s 72-hour-review rule.

GOP leaders are also still working to win the votes of several undecided Republicans, including Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), but are confident they are on track to pass the measure by the end of the week. “Like any big vote, they’re always tight,” Scalise said Wednesday.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, said in a brief interview he was expecting a “Friday morning” vote, saying that was “close enough” to fulfilling the 72-hour rule. GOP leaders have privately acknowledged a Thursday vote could cost them votes among hard-liners, and they can’t afford to lose many Republicans with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) already a hard “no.”

“I suspect leadership knows it’s easier to get guys to a yes when we’re following the rules than not,” said another Republican involved in the conversations granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Senate Republicans, who want to act quickly on the House bill, are closely watching the House action as they plan their own schedule.

If the House votes Friday, the earliest the Senate would be able to vote is Monday. While voting on Thursday could theoretically move up that schedule a day, a number of Republican senators want to attend activist Charlie Kirk’s funeral Sunday, making a vote that day unlikely.

Furthermore, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss chamber scheduling, senators are not eager to return Monday only to leave again for an already scheduled recess for Rosh Hashanah. Instead, senators would likely return next Thursday, after the Jewish holiday, the people said.

The scheduling conflicts come as the Sept. 30 funding expiration looms and as Senate Democrats threaten to use the chamber’s filibuster rule to block the GOP stopgap.

“In the Senate, it takes 60 votes,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday. “So that means Republicans will need to work with us. If they can’t even bother to have a conversation with Democrats, then it’s Republicans who the American people will know are causing a shutdown in two weeks.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune reiterated Wednesday that Republicans see nothing to negotiate on the “clean” stopgap, which would extend current funding through Nov. 21. “These guys are trying to take a hostage here,” he said.

Speaker Mike Johnson, asked about the prospect of Senate Democrats blocking the House stopgap, said in a brief interview Tuesday that he hoped that wouldn’t happen.

“There would be no reason to, because it’s clean and short term.” Asked if he would work on a backup plan in that case, he replied, “We’re going to see what happens.”

But House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole signaled some support Wednesday for Republicans working on a Plan B if Senate Democrats do block the GOP-led stopgap as they’re threatening.

“I certainly would,” Cole said in a brief interview, but he acknowledged it was “a leadership decision.”

Cole, asked if the talks could be salvaged at that point to stave off a shutdown, replied, “I don’t know.”

The comments came as tensions between normally cordial appropriators appear to be reaching a breaking point. Senate Appropriations Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Tuesday accused Cole of having “pulled out” of bipartisan talks and “produced a one-sided CR.”

“Where are the Republican leaders?” Murray said. “If Republicans can’t even sit down with [Democratic leaders] to simply have a conversation, then they cannot govern.”

Cole retorted Wednesday that Democrats were threatening to oppose a stopgap funding bill “they asked for” and are now planning to unveil their own alternative that adds on health care provisions and other measures GOP leaders are opposing.

“We gave them the time frame and a clean bill, now they’re wanting to put other things in,” he said, adding that health care and other issues Democrats want to tackle “ought to be dealt with in separate discussions.”

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

23 minutes ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

36 minutes ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.

Congress

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras

Published

6 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Flock has faced severe public backlash against the surveillance technology following reports that police officers misused the technology to track women, and it has the largest network of license plate readers across the U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hosted a hearing last month probing its potential misuses, although the company’s CEO Garrett Langley did not appear.

The latest bill, unveiled Friday and named the Ban Flock Act, would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers or accessing data from the technology and prevent federal grants from funding states and local governments that use automated license plate readers.

“At a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” Sanders, who has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI technology, said in a statement. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Ocasio-Cortez similarly condemned the surveillance capabilities of the technology and said the bill would “enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

“No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips,” Merkley added.

Republicans have introduced similar efforts to regulate license plate readers, such as Hawley’s Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would require audits and limits on unauthorized searches.

Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.