Congress

House won’t act to extend Trump’s DC police takeover

Published

1 year ago

September 4, 2025

House leaders do not plan to hold a vote to extend President Donald Trump’s temporary takeover of the D.C. police before it expires next week, according to three people granted anonymity to describe internal planning.

Speaker Mike Johnson said as he left the House floor Thursday that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement this week that she would coordinate with federal law enforcement on an indefinite basis going forward seemingly “resolved some of” the issues.

The decision not to act on the police takeover guarantees that Trump’s 30-day emergency order will expire Sept. 10. While Senate Democrats have vowed for weeks to block the bill in the Senate using their filibuster powers, House leaders might have called a vote anyway to force vulnerable Democrats to take a position on urban crime.

Senate Republicans aren’t expected to give an extension a vote, either. A senator could try to clear it by unanimous consent, but such a request could be easily blocked on the floor.

Bowser on Wednesday called for the end of the police takeover, which Trump invoked under a provision of the 52-year-old law granting limited local autonomy to the District government. She has also been critical of Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and ICE agents within the capital — but has welcomed a surge of other federal law enforcement, such as FBI agents and U.S. Park Police.

“I want the message to be clear to the Congress: We have a framework to request or use federal resources in our city,” Bowser said. “We don’t need a presidential emergency.”

The House could vote within weeks, however, on other D.C.-related measures. An Oversight Committee markup is set for Wednesday on legislation dealing with youth crime in the city, the D.C. education system and restrictions on law enforcement, according to a person granted anonymity to disclose details ahead of a public announcement.

A list of bills under consideration, obtained by Blue Light News, includes a number of provisions that would heighten the federal government’s control of the D.C. government. One bill would eliminate the elected D.C. attorney general and fill the job with a presidential appointee. Others would reverse a D.C. policy against police auto pursuits and lower the age at which minors can be considered adults for some violent crimes.

Johnson was also asked Thursday about $2 billion in D.C. beautification funding Trump has said he wants Congress to deliver. He replied he was “not sure the current status of it” and was “awaiting further details on the request.”

Johnson also said Thursday that a nationwide crime bill was “on the table,” while Senate Majority Leader John Thune said it was “yet to be determined” what such a bill might look like.

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is involved in preliminary talks with House and Senate Republicans as well as the Justice Department about a broader crime bill.

“My expectation is again that the House, the Senate, the speaker and I at some point will have that conversation,” Thune said. “Figure out exactly what [Trump] envisions that looking like and what we can accomplish and get through the Senate and the House.”

Jordain Carney, Hailey Fuchs and Michael Schaffer contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

5 hours 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

5 hours 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

11 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.