Congress

House Republicans are playing the Trump card in committee chair races

Published

2 years ago

November 20, 2024

Republican lawmakers jockeying to lead House committees in the next Congress are touting their loyalty to President-elect Donald Trump as much as their ability to advance policy priorities as they make appeals to colleagues over the next two weeks.

With scores of members competing for a few key positions, contenders believe that success could hinge on their ability to show just how well-positioned they are to drive Trump’s legislative agenda across a range of policy areas including finance, energy and education.

“It’s going to be supremely important,” Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), a top contender to replace outgoing House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas), said in an interview after Trump addressed House Republicans last week. “What he spoke to us about is how his relationship with the House is better and stronger than the one he has with the Senate, and so he’s going to lean on us to get his agenda through.”

That agenda will include efforts to expand school choice, produce more fossil fuels and advance business-friendly cryptocurrency regulation — as well as sweeping rollbacks of Biden administration policies.

The extent to which allegiance to Trump carries the day will be a key first test of his hold on Congress, particularly since most of the races will be decided by secret ballot. Contenders will make their cases to a select group of colleagues, known as the steering committee, at the beginning of next month. Those members will then vote anonymously to determine the winner.

“It’s really about, ‘How are they going to get something done?’” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who serves on the steering committee, said in an interview. “That’s going to be the most important thing.”

The top Republicans on the House Rules, Energy and Commerce, and Financial Services committees are all retiring when the current Congress ends in December. Other panels, including House Foreign Affairs, Education and the Workforce, and Transportation, will need new leaders because of term limits.

Financial Services

Reps. Andy Barr of Kentucky, French Hill of Arkansas, Bill Huizenga of Michigan and Frank Lucas of Oklahoma are vying to become the top Republican on the committee that oversees Wall Street, the Federal Reserve and cryptocurrency.

Front-runners Barr and Hill have leaned hard into proving their Trump bona fides. Barr has focused his pitch on melding the party’s populist wing with its free-market core — and has spent the days since the election in close communication with key Trump allies like Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent. Over the next few weeks, he’ll give out red baseball hats carrying Trump’s promise to “Make Financial Services Great Again.”

“I’m working really hard to make sure that my vision is hand-in-glove with the incoming policy agenda of the Trump administration,” Barr, a close ally of Trump loyalist House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, said in an interview.

Andy Barr has focused his pitch on melding the party’s populist wing with its free-market core.

Hill, meanwhile, has cited his ability to coordinate with Trump on crypto — the president-elect gave him a shout out at a digital assets conference over the summer — and rolled out an agenda last week that he branded “Make Community Banking Great Again.” Hill’s plan, like Barr’s, includes proposals that parallel Trump’s agenda, including a pledge to “reverse the weaponization of the government” by blocking regulators from encouraging banks to cut ties with certain customers.

Barr’s ties to Trump run deeper than Hill’s. He watched the Super Bowl with the president-elect at Trump International Golf Club earlier this year and helped throw fundraisers for Trump and running mate JD Vance in Kentucky during the campaign. Before Hill endorsed Trump’s presidential bid, he was one of the few House Republicans to publicly push back against him for encouraging lawmakers to kill a key intelligence bill.

Whether any of that matters to steering committee members remains to be seen.

“Steering committee — a combination of leadership and people elected by district — tends to be the more experienced members, and it tends to be a different set of values,” Lucas said in an interview. “President Trump’s opinion matters to everyone in the Republican conference, but it’s still within the immediate panel” to decide who gets a gavel.

— Eleanor Mueller and Jasper Goodman

Foreign Affairs

Wagner can boast a connection to the Trump family after working with Ivanka Trump — as well as secretary of State nominee Sen. Marco Rubio — on paid leave legislation. (She shouted “Yes!” as Trump mentioned it during his 2019 State of the Union address.) Wagner said in an interview that committee hopefuls “should” lean into their Trump ties when presenting to the steering committee .

“He has brought a number of our House members across the finish line,” Wagner said. “There’s a clear mandate there from the people.”

Wagner also backed Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and co-chairs the Abraham Accords Caucus, named for the deal brokered under by the Trump administration to normalize Arab-Israeli relations. Her 2016 withdrawal of support for Trump over the Access Hollywood tape is “water under the bridge” that won’t affect her current relationship with him, said a House GOP aide granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

Another contender, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, is known for his aggressive approach leading the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He endorsed Trump in 2016 and supported key decisions, such as the firing of FBI Director James Comey. Although Issa briefly backed a special prosecutor to investigate Trump’s Russia ties, he later walked back that support. He subsequently voted to reject Pennsylvania’s 2020 electoral votes, opposed Trump’s impeachment both times, and voted against the creation of an independent Jan. 6 commission.

Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, a Ukraine Caucus co-chair, backs sustained U.S. support to Ukraine, a stance that diverges from Trump’s. Wilson has at the same time praised Trump, saying the president-elect’s recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demonstrated a “peace through strength” approach.

Another contender, Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, served as the national chairman of Veterans for Trump, leading attacks on Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Waltz’s claims about his military record and defending Trump against criticism he doesn’t support troops. He’s also backed Trump amid his felony convictions and endorsed his foreign policy approach.

— Joe Gould

Transportation

Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, the current Transportation chair, is eyeing a challenge from Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas. Both are on the same plane when it comes to their relationship with Trump.

Graves is making a long-shot bid for a waiver that would allow him to dodge term limits. He wants to make his case to the steering committee on why he is the better choice than Crawford — the Highways and Transit Subcommittee chair who has been campaigning for the role since March.

Crawford said he has had a good relationship with Trump for “quite a while” and noted that he and the president-elect share priorities such as investing in infrastructure through the surface transportation reauthorization bill.

“I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t align perfectly, and we move forward with it,” Crawford said.

Graves has said that if he gets the waiver, he would work seamlessly with Trump as chair on a bill that focuses on hard infrastructure.

“We [have] got a long ways to go, but Trump’s a builder, so he gets it. And we need to do traditional infrastructure — that’s pouring concrete, laying asphalt, building roads, building bridges, and he’s going to get that,” Graves said. “So I’m sure it’s going to be heavily geared towards that.”

If Graves doesn’t get the waiver, expect Rep. David Rouzer of North Carolina — who has said he would be interested in running if Graves is out — to jump in the race. Rouzer, the subcommittee chair on water resources and environment, didn’t comment on any efforts to implement Trump-aligned policies.

— Chris Marquette

Agriculture

House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania grew closer to Trump in the final months of the 2024 campaign, strengthening ties that are also cementing his chances to maintain his gavel next year.

Thompson helped Trump campaign in his home state, which was seen as a critical battleground. Their relationship is a highly symbiotic one that enables Trump to reinforce his strong ties to rural America and the agriculture sector, while letting Thompson burnish his MAGA ties with GOP voters.

In September, Thompson joined Trump for a campaign roundtable for farmers in Smithton, Pennsylvania, hosted by the Protecting America Initiative, led by Richard Grenell, who was acting director of national intelligence during the president-elect’s first term, and former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, who has been nominated to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

G.T. Thompson helped Trump campaign in his home state, which was seen as a critical battleground.

“We’ve always won with the farmers,” Trump said, seated next to Thompson.

Republican lawmakers don’t expect anyone to challenge Thompson for the Agriculture Committee gavel. He went through treatment for prostate cancer this Congress but has recovered. Should Trump tap Thompson to serve in his administration, Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia would likely be next in line to fill the role.

— Meredith Lee Hill

Judiciary

One of Trump’s biggest supporters has a lock on being the chair of the Judiciary Committee: Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Jordan has been one of Trump’s biggest Hill supporters for years, and the two have a close relationship, including the president-elect’s backing for the lawmaker’s failed speaker bid last year.

Jordan keeping the gavel will give Trump a staunch ally directing some of the biggest investigations of the House GOP majority, including a potential investigation into special counsel Jack Smith, who has led the federal investigations into Trump.

— Jordain Carney

Energy and Commerce

Reps. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and Bob Latta of Ohio are competing to chair the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, which has significant sway over health care and energy policy.

“I think he’ll let things play out,” Latta said when asked if Trump might put his finger on the scale in the race.

Both candidates are seen as being friendly with the president-elect. Though they have not messaged explicitly on their relationship, their pitches parallel some of his proposals.

Latta and Guthrie have both embraced permitting reform; are open to all energy sources, including renewables; and want to boost domestic energy production, in line with Trump’s push to make the county “energy independent.” While Trump hasn’t been particularly engaged in health care, the two men have signaled openness to reforms at public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health. Both have opposed what they see as electric vehicle “mandates” from the Biden administration, a major Trump talking point.

— Ben Leonard, with an assist from David Lim

Education and Workforce

Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan and Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah are in a race to lead the House Education and the Workforce Committee that has their loyalty to Trump on full display.

Walberg, dean of the Michigan delegation, frequently touts his relationship with the president-elect. He has a picture with Trump on Air Force One in his office.

Tim Walberg wants to simplify labor regulations.

Owens, who currently leads the panel’s subcommittee on higher education, says he and Trump agree that education is a top priority. Displayed outside of his office is a photo of Trump with his fist raised in the air after being shot at earlier this year.

Trump is likely to get key parts of his education and workforce agendas through either lawmaker. His repeated backing of school choice initiatives on the campaign trail could get momentum under Walberg or Owens, both of whom want to move legislation on the issue. Owens is also a vocal critic of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and Walberg wants to simplify labor regulations.

— Mackenzie Wilkes

Rules

The steering committee won’t get a say in one of the races that could have the biggest impact on the president-elect’s agenda.

The House Rules Committee tees up most GOP policy bills for the floor, making it a last-stop for Trump and his allies to try to influence legislation.

But unlike most committees, whoever chairs the panel will ultimately be up to the speaker — and it’s usually a reliable leadership ally.

The current chair, Michael Burgess of Texas, is retiring. Some have floated Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania for the position, but he’s also chief deputy whip.

There’s also been a swirl of chatter around Rep. Virginia Foxx, who is losing her education and workforce gavel to term limits. The North Carolinian declined to say Wednesday whether she would accept the top job on Rules if offered.

“I’m not running for anything,” she said with a laugh.

Like Burgess, Foxx is a fierce defender of the president-elect. After delivering remarks at Trump rallies leading up to the election, her name is now among those being floated for Education secretary.

— Jordain Carney and Eleanor Mueller

Congress

The Democratic Socialists of America are leaving it all on the field in NYC

Published

4 hours ago

June 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

NEW YORK — The Democratic Socialists of America are facing a reckoning in New York City — and there’s a lot on the line.

Two members of the hard-left group’s New York City chapter are running for congressional seats in this month’s primaries, vying to topple more mainstream Democrats — including one incumbent.

If the DSA’s candidates, Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, prevail, it will prove the ascendent organization can capitalize on the momentum generated by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s once-improbable 2025 election win. Victories for Valdez and Avila Chevalier would expand socialist influence on Capitol Hill as the Democratic Party continues to grapple with its ideological identity after getting shellacked in the 2024 elections. And it would likely embolden the DSA to expand its political footprint — accelerating its evolution from insurgent movement to political institution.

But if one or both candidates lose, the DSA’s growth arc in New York would experience its first major dip since November, raising the prospect that the pendulum for Democrats may be swinging toward the middle. Defeat would also reflect poorly on Mamdani, who expended significant political capital to endorse Valdez and especially Avila Chevalier, who’s challenging a veteran New York congressional delegation member with deep ties to party leadership.

“Our goal is to win major races that show the Democratic Party establishment that our agenda is what working class New Yorkers demand,” Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the DSA’s New York City chapter, told Blue Light News. “The stakes couldn’t be higher for us.”

There’s a third insurgent candidate challenging an incumbent House member in New York City’s June 23 primaries: Former City Comptroller Brad Lander, who’s hoping to unseat Rep. Dan Goldman.

Lander isn’t a DSA member and hasn’t earned the group’s endorsement. But he’s campaigned to the left of Goldman, giving that primary a sense of importance for the broader progressive movement — especially since Mamdani is Lander’s top endorser.

There are currently only two members of Congress who qualify themselves as DSA comrades: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). To that end, the DSA could double its presence in Congress if both Avila Chevalier and Valdez win their races.

In a sign that the three competitive New York City primaries are important for democratic socialism on a national level, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the patriarch of the modern American left, plans to headline a rally Thursday in Brooklyn with Valdez, Avila Chevalier and Lander. Sanders — who has endorsed democratic socialist candidates across the country this year — is also expected to be joined on stage by Mamdani.

The DSA’s influence in New York has increased considerably since Mamdani’s rise, but it hasn’t been without growing pains.

Take New York’s 7th Congressional District. Valdez, a state Assembly member, is facing off against Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and City Council member Julie Won in a race to replace retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez.

Velázquez, a matriarch of local progressive politics and an early supporter of Mamdani’s 2025 run, has soured on the mayor — and the DSA as a whole — after they threw their weight behind Valdez despite the outgoing incumbent’s wishes to be succeeded by Reynoso.

In a candidate forum last week, Reynoso, a non-DSA progressive, suggested the socialist group has turned into a “machine” with Mamdani as its “boss” — language that harkens back to an era when the heads of the city’s county parties ruled local politics and could handpick whoever they wanted for any given elected office.

“She is beholden to the powers of the new administration, the same way all political machines are,” Reynoso said of Valdez at the June 8 forum hosted by WNYC.

There are indeed aspects of the DSA’s operational structure that resemble the component parts of a political machine.

With Mamdani as its figurehead, the DSA’s leaders rarely criticize him — even when he stakes out policy positions that run afoul of their dogma — a reticence that evokes how the county bosses of yesteryear were loath to tolerate dissent among their ranks (the group did issue a rare rebuke of Mamdani last week over his support for increasing the NYPD headcount this year).

The DSA has also shown itself highly capable of deploying thousands of loyal volunteers on canvassing efforts for its preferred candidates — another hallmark of a machine.

Basil Smikle, a political scientist and former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party, said the DSA is on its way to becoming a full-fledged political machine, but argued it’s not quite there yet.

“If they start creating local political clubs in individual neighborhoods, push to create its own ballot line and, frankly, just win more elections so they have more members in positions of power, that’s when it really starts to become the sort of machine that’s systemic and more similar to the old school political machines,” he said.

Frank Carone, an attorney who has been deeply involved in the Brooklyn Democratic Party for decades, said he “can certainly see why” Reynoso would draw the comparison, noting that the DSA’s canvassing prowess is undeniable.

But Carone, an ardent DSA critic and confidant of former Mayor Eric Adams, said Reynoso’s attempt to use the machine term as a cudgel against the socialist group is “bullshit.”

“Same way he did against county back then, he’s doing it against DSA now,” Carone said, referring to Reynoso’s longrunning beef with the Brooklyn Democratic Party. “Any time you’re invoking emotion to do this type of name-calling, it’s bullshit. It’s essentially cowardly.”

In an interview last Wednesday, Valdez also took a dig at Reynoso for the machine jab.

“The Brooklyn borough president doesn’t understand where DSA’s power comes from,” she said. “Our membership is the boss of this organization. We steer the ship, and it’s a misunderstanding to say there’s a single figurehead.”

As it relates to the looming election, Valdez said “the power” the DSA has built in New York won’t dissipate even if she and Avila Chevalier lose their races. If they win, “it would cement this organization as a major power-player in New York City,” said Valdez, who first joined the DSA in 2019.

Polling has been scant in the race for the 7th District, which spans gentrifying parts of Brooklyn and Queens. A PIX11 survey released on May 21 showed Valdez and Reynoso neck-and-neck, with Won far behind in third place.

Asked how much is at stake for the DSA in the race, Reynoso told Blue Light News he’s “glad to see this much energy on the left.”

“The only way any of us actually delivers for working people is by working together instead of fighting over who gets the credit,” he said. “With Trump back in the White House and ICE tearing families apart, that is the fight that matters, and I intend to be a partner to every group ready to roll up their sleeves and get something done.”

On the other side of the East River, Avila Chevalier has emerged as the DSA’s riskiest gamble this election cycle.

A first-time candidate known for her pro-Palestinian activism, Avila Chevalier is challenging Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who has over the years built a political machine of his own in upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

As in the Valdez-Reynoso-Won race, there hasn’t been much polling in the contest between Espaillat and Avila Chevalier. A survey conducted last week on behalf of a pro-Espaillat super PAC found him leading Avila Chevalier by a 35-27 percentage point margin. A second poll commissioned at the beginning of this month by Justice Democrats, a progressive group supportive of Avila Chevalier, showed her beating Espaillat by a 39-35 margin, though that survey only had a sample size of 319 likely voters.

For the DSA, any momentum stands to be blunted, however, by a torrent of old social media posts from Avila Chevalier. In her since-deleted missives, she denigrated Democratic politicians, the police, Israel and private property. The posts have surfaced since Mamdani and the DSA got behind her. Espaillat and super PACs that support him have seized on her social media history, airing ads that characterize her past online screeds as evidence she’s too extreme.

“This is what it looks like when movements stop asking for a seat at the table and start building our own,” Avila Chevalier said in a statement when asked about the DSA’s impact on her campaign. “Our movement is fighting for and powered by the people, and I look forward to bringing it home for our community on June 23.”

Ironically for the DSA, Lander seems like the most potent progressive running for Congress in New York City this cycle. Polls are showing him ahead of Goldman by double digits, and he has benefited greatly from an endorsement from Mamdani, who won Goldman’s Manhattan and Brooklyn district by a wide margin in last year’s mayoral election.

The DSA generally doesn’t endorse candidates who aren’t dues-paying members. Lander, who’s Jewish, left the DSA in late 2023 over the group hosting a rally ostensibly celebrating Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack against Israel shortly after it happened.

Gordillo, the DSA co-chair, would not comment on Lander’s race. But speaking generally, he said he’s bullish about pickups in New York City.

“Last year’s mayoral election showed there’s a citywide constituency for democratic socialist politics,” he said.

Congress

Congressional staff visit prison facility where Ghislaine Maxwell is held

Published

12 hours ago

June 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Staff for the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees on Tuesday visited the Texas federal prison facility where Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, is being held, according to the panel’s top Democrats.

In a statement, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Robert Garcia of California — the ranking members on Judiciary and Oversight, respectively — said staff traveled there as part of the panel’s ongoing Epstein investigation in search of “answers about Ms. Maxwell’s unprecedented transfer and VIP treatment.”

Republican and Democratic staff from both committees attended a three-hour visit to the Texas facility, which included a two-hour tour and a back-and-forth with the facility staff, including the warden, according to a person familiar with the trip who requested anonymity to describe the private visit.

The warden argued that Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for her part in Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme, was not necessarily given special treatment, according to that person; rather, because of her prominence, measures were required because she had to remain inside for 30 days.

The lawmakers added that they received little in the way of new details, though, and doubted the truthfulness of the information that they did receive.

“Bureau of Prisons leadership repeatedly shut down our lines of questioning or could not provide basic information about our central concerns, including Ms. Maxwell’s extraordinary treatment, allegations of sexual assault at the facility, and retaliation against inmates who tried to blow the whistle,” Raskin and Garcia said in a statement released Tuesday evening.

Maxwell was moved from a prison in Florida to the minimum security prison camp in Texas after meeting with then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss the Epstein case. During that interview, Maxwell claimed she never saw President Donald Trump in any inappropriate setting with Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.

Democrats have questioned whether her transfer to a cushier facility was part of a quid pro quo with the Trump administration facilitated by Blanche, who is now the acting attorney general and Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Justice. Although the president has said he broke off contact with Epstein years before his death behind bars in 2019, his onetime relationship with the financier has drawn scrutiny.

Raskin said last October he wanted his staff to conduct oversight of the Texas detention center. In November, Judiciary Democrats announced they had received information from a whistleblower that suggested Maxwell was receiving preferential treatment there.

In their statement Tuesday, Raskin and Garcia vowed they would continue to investigate Blanche’s “role in ensuring Ms. Maxwell remains comfortable and quiet.”

Congress

White House’s Anthropic move jolts Congress back into the AI debate

Published

13 hours ago

June 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Trump administration’s sudden moves to rein in Anthropic are giving fresh momentum to efforts in Congress to impose guardrails on cutting-edge artificial intelligence models.

Lawmakers are still seeking clear information about the government’s decision late Friday to impose an export ban on the AI company’s latest models, known as Fable 5 and Mythos 5, over cybersecurity concerns — a move that led Anthropic to suspend access to both for all users.

In roughly a dozen interviews on Capitol Hill this week, several lawmakers said they were shocked by the development and had yet to receive a formal briefing from administration officials. Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas), whose committee has jurisdiction over AI policy, said Monday that he had seen “what’s been reported in the press,” but had not been briefed on details.

Members of both parties said they now see an opening to mobilize their colleagues around legislation that would reclaim congressional authority at a time when the executive branch remains firmly in the drivers’ seat on AI regulation.

But lawmakers have struggled to reach consensus on a complicated and politically divisive matter in an election year. And the circumstances around the Anthropic saga could further drive a wedge between Democrats, who generally favor strong regulatory review requirements of new AI models, and Republicans, who tend to be wary of such a heavy hand.

“I think we’re landing more and more in a place where everybody’s realizing you need some type of government oversight,” said Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) in an interview Tuesday. “I think we’re still struggling with what that is.”

Disagreements over policy are being exacerbated by Democrats’ wariness to legislate on AI in a GOP-controlled Washington ahead of the midterm elections, with some viewing a potential House majority as their best opportunity to enact AI rules more closely aligned with Democratic priorities. Some Democratic lawmakers said this week that the Anthropic episode was just the latest example of the Trump administration’s erratic decision-making.

“I think this is an indicator that this administration no longer believes in a free market,” said Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, who is in line to be the No. 2 Senate Democrat in the next Congress. “They believe in picking winners and losers.”

The administration’s decision regarding Anthropic came two weeks after Trump signed an executive order establishing a voluntary vetting regime that asks AI companies to submit their advanced models to the government 30 days before they are released to the public.

“If even this … administration is suddenly saying this is a security risk, why are we allowing these entities to put this out without testing?” asked Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Anthropic’s relationship with the White House has been strained since a standoff with the Defense Department earlier this year, when the Pentagon labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk. While the unveiling of Anthropic’s latest model Mythos prompted the government to soften its stance toward the company, last week’s events signalled the repair may have been superficial.

“If Donald Trump thinks we need export controls on Anthropic, then how about putting export controls on the computer chips that will let China build their own version of Anthropic?” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), said Tuesday in an interview.

When asked to rate the chances of Congress passing legislation to set federal standards for AI regulations, she replied, “It would be high if it weren’t for Donald Trump.”

This all comes as Washington was already grappling with the larger question of how to regulate the AI industry to ensure the safety of models, and whether it should be up to states or the federal government to set those guardrails. The Commerce Committee in the coming weeks is expected to consider a slate of AI bills, including potentially one that would require social media platforms to put mechanisms in place to protect users who are minors.

Some members of Congress are trying to work across the aisle on the issue despite the steep odds. In the House, Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Lori Trahan (D-Calif.) last month unveiled a broad AI legislative framework that folds in preemption of state AI laws. Trahan, who has broken with House Democratic leadership in pursuing a bipartisan path on AI, seized on the Anthropic news to urge congressional action.

“This decision further illustrates the need for a thoughtful and durable national strategy on AI,” she posted on X. “Decisions this consequential shouldn’t turn on a single directive issued at 5 pm on a Friday. They should follow rules that are clear, fair, grounded in technical facts, and built to last beyond any one administration.”

Trahan’s spokesperson, in a statement Tuesday, said, “Whether the decision by the administration was political or actually based on a real threat posed … it underscores the fact that Congress must act urgently and in a bipartisan fashion.”

The Trahan-Obernolte proposal would stop short of calling for a mandatory review system for new frontier AI models, however, which could become difficult in the post-Anthropic era.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), who is co-chair of the House Democratic Commission on AI, said in an interview that the Trump administration last week “ma[d]e it clear the importance of actually mandatory reviews when it comes to government reviews, when it comes to models and national security-related issues.”

“If there were a piece of legislation for a mandatory review,” he added, “I’d certainly support that.”

Sen. Todd Young of Indiana offered a measured response to the events of the last several days, saying the Senate Commerce Committee, of which he is a member, would work to try to get answers. He added that the recent developments could “conceivably” propel lawmakers to work together on legislation that would establish a system to review new models.

“You don’t want to just be trusting private actors to do the right thing and trusting their judgment, because the risk we’re talking about here could conceivably be catastrophic,” Young said, adding, “I think everyone wants to get this right.”

Gabby Miller contributed to this report.