Congress

How best to honor Lindsey Graham’s legacy? Republicans are divided.

Published

32 minutes ago

July 14, 2026

The late Sen. Lindsey Graham was known as a champion of American military power, strong global alliances, conservative jurisprudence and more.

Cryptocurrency regulation? Not so much.

So when President Donald Trump suggested in a Truth Social post Monday that the Senate should pass a long-brewing crypto bill in “honor of Senator Lindsey Graham,” it struck a false note to many lawmakers. It also underscored how quickly many in Washington are moving after the Republican senator’s death Saturday to claim his mantle for their own purposes.

Many of Graham’s surviving colleagues instead rallied around a proposal they believe would better honor the four-term South Carolina legend: a bipartisan sanctions bill targeting Russia that Graham had been pushing — and had won White House support for — in the days before he died.

But it remains unclear if that legislation truly has legs, especially with Trump infatuated with other priorities that have little to do with Graham’s signature issues. That has opened up room for the competing attempts to seize on his legacy.

In addition to the crypto bill, Trump stoked a competing suggestion — that the contentious GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act could be passed in Graham’s memory — by saying he had spoken to the senator about that legislation just hours before his death.

“He thought we were going to get it passed,” Trump said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” — sparking other Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Mike Lee of Utah, to redouble their calls for a bill that Graham supported but never played a lead role in advocating.

Lee said during an X broadcast Monday night that he had met with Trump at the Oval Office earlier in the day. In that conversation, Lee said, Trump’s final conversation with Graham about the elections bill came up.

“I imagine a number of my colleagues will see that as an emotionally compelling reason, one of many, to get this done,” Lee said. Skeptics, he added, should “reconsider in light of the fact that this was on Lindsey Graham’s mind just moments before he died and we ought to figure out a way to carry forward his legacy by getting this thing passed.”

To many senators, however, the bill slapping sanction on buyers of Russian oil and gas is a no-brainer. Not only was Graham known as one of the chamber’s fiercest Russia hawks, with decades of trans-Atlantic security experience, he had just returned from the NATO summit in Turkey and a visit to Ukraine when he died.

“The most obvious and logical way [to honor Graham] would be the sanctions bill, because it’s his bill,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said in an interview Monday. “You’re not making anything up. He practically died trying to get it passed. … Anything else becomes kind of political trickery in my mind.”

The problem is, the sanctions bill still faces serious doubts among some Republicans. Graham at multiple points over the past year believed he had talked Trump into backing the measure, only for it to be put on ice as Trump tried to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Though prior versions of the bill had broad bipartisan support, small pockets of skepticism could still force the Senate to eat up weeks of floor time in order to get it across the finish line.

And then there’s the matter of what Trump will do. While Graham claimed presidential support and a White House official confirmed that Monday, Trump himself was not so direct when asked separately Monday if he would support it.

“We’re talking about that,” he told reporters.

The president was nowhere as indirect in regards to the crypto bill, saying in his social media post that “the U.S. Senate should pass the Clarity Act” in memory of Graham, whom he called “a big supporter” of the legislation.

While Graham had voted for other cryptocurrency bills, he was not considered a major industry ally and in the last Congress had co-introduced a tough bipartisan regulatory bill aimed at combatting money laundering.

As for the SAVE America Act — which has been a key source of tension between Trump and Senate Republicans — Graham had cosponsored it and called for its passage. But he also cast doubt on whether the Senate would eliminate the 60-vote filibuster threshold to pass it.

Instead, Graham before his death was floating trying to get pieces of the bill passed through the filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation process — a process he partly controlled as Senate Budget Committee chair.

Fellow senators agreed that crypto and SAVE America were Trump’s obsessions — not Graham’s.

“There are only two things on the president’s mind. … No. 1, the SAVE Act, and No. 2, based on the tweet I saw this morning, the crypto bill,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). “I want to do the crypto bill, but Lindsey cared about the sanctions bill.”

Asked if he saw a connection between Graham and the cryptocurrency legislation, Cramer said, “This place is full of circumstances where you get too cute by half.”

Honoring Graham with the sanctions bill, he added, would be “obvious.”

While some senators have floated other fitting ideas, like naming the annual Pentagon policy bill after Graham, advancing the sanctions legislation has the most momentum — especially after the idea was endorsed by top leaders and a bipartisan slew of Graham’s colleagues Monday.

“It would be a great tribute and legacy for Lindsey,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Monday, while acknowledging leaders were still “assessing” if the bill had a path forward.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also urged the Senate to quickly pass the sanctions legislation in honor of Graham.

“I know if Senator Graham were here in this chamber today, he would also join me in urging the Senate to support Ukraine and strengthen sanctions on Russia,” Schumer said on the floor, predicting it would “pass overwhelmingly and help our allies in Ukraine” if Thune moved forward with it.

But some Republicans believe Trump will have to publicly bear-hug the bill to get it across the finish line.

“I know some people at the White House have said they support it … but they don’t count,” Kennedy said. “No offense to anybody, but they don’t count. I haven’t yet heard the president stand up and say, ‘We need to sanction the hell out of Russia, and let’s get going.’”

Congress

Democrats divided on whether to make daylight saving time permanent

Published

8 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Top House Democrats used a Monday evening leadership meeting to debate whether to vote for legislation on the floor this week that would make daylight savings time permanent.

The bill, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, advanced overwhelmingly in the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year as part of a package to reauthorize surface transportation programs. House GOP leaders have chosen to bring it up as a standalone measure in a sign of momentum for the long-debated legislative proposal.

But members of both parties have concerns about the implications of adding more sunlight to the evening hours by ending the twice yearly practice of resetting the clocks. And the emerging schism among Democrats is the latest sign the legislation might be in trouble — if not in the House in the coming days than in the weeks ahead as the measure winds its way through the Senate.

One person who attended Monday’s Democratic Steering and Policy Committee meeting, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said discussion about the Sunshine Protection Act dominated about two-thirds of the allotted time and that members were “very split.”

A second person granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting said “people have different positions.”

Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Rep. Nanette Barragán of California spoke out against making daylight saving time permanent, according to the first person — with Wasserman Schultz raising concerns about child safety and Barragán pointing to medical research opposing the change on the basis it would be harmful to sleep patterns as well as mental and physical health.

Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke in favor of the legislation inside the meeting, said the first person with knowledge of the discussion, while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not weigh in.

Pallone also shared his position during a meeting of the House Rules Committee earlier Monday, asserting that “a big majority” of Americans want daylight saving time and that resetting the clocks is deeply unpopular.

“I don’t really know anybody who wants to change the clocks anymore,” he said.

This is a topic that has been debated for years but has failed to gain traction — in part because of such strong opposition among lawmakers from some agriculture-heavy states who say the change would make it so that farmers would be unable to see daylight in the winter months until nearly 9 a.m.

Rep. Mary Scanlon (D-Pa.), a member of the Rules Committee, agreed that Americans are fed up with resetting the clocks but argued medical and science professionals overwhelmingly endorse permanent standard time, which would allow more sunlight in the morning hours.

She introduced an amendment — which failed — that would have replaced the bill with her legislation that she said would make standard time permanent, allowing states to opt for daylight saving time instead. Barragán said in a statement she supports that amendment.

Congress

Luna signals she will end revolt, vote to allow the House to debate legislation

Published

8 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is signaling she will vote to reopen the House floor Tuesday after a weekslong power struggle with Speaker Mike Johnson over a partisan election security bill known as the SAVE America Act.

In an X post Monday night, the Florida Republican suggested she would support a procedural rule that will finally allow the chamber to consider legislation, including a bill to fund the State Department and a measure to make daylight saving time permanent — a major priority for her home state as well as for President Donald Trump.

Luna said she would do so now “on the condition that Speaker Johnson attaches the SAVE America Act and all appropriation bills and all must-pass bills here in the House and ensures it is sent to the Senate in one bill.”

Johnson has, in fact, committed to facilitating a process this week that would attach the GOP election bill to the State Department funding package, which Luna and other Republicans believe will force the Senate into submission. Republican leaders, however, do not have the votes to pass the SAVE America Act, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been clear he will not facilitate a rules change to jam parts or all of the legislation through.

“If John Thune strips it out in the Senate that will be on him and the entire country should be watching what he does,” Luna wrote on X, urging his state party and constituents to “censure” or challenge him in a primary.

But while Johnson may have solved one problem for now with Luna, he still has a handful of hard-liners who refuse to vote for a rule until leadership promises them a vote to crack down on immigration. Leaders are currently discussing what legislative proposals they could put on the floor to pacify these holdouts.

It’s still not clear whether the House will be able to move on any major legislation this week.

Congress

Ron Johnson is full speed ahead on Reconciliation 3.0

Published

10 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Ron Johnson doesn’t know when he will officially take over as chair of the Senate Budget Committee, a post left vacant by the sudden death Saturday of Sen. Lindsey Graham.

But the Wisconsin Republican is wasting no time getting ready.

“I’ve already met with Lindsey’s staff this afternoon,” Johnson said soon after arriving at the Capitol on Monday.

He acknowledged the gravity of his longtime colleague’s loss and said he understood the need to “take one step at a time.” But he also said he is hoping to quickly pick up where Graham left off on a new party-line budget reconciliation bill — something Johnson has advocated for more than a year and is now getting a fresh push from President Donald Trump.

The president wants the legislation to send $350 billion to the Pentagon and enact a litany of other GOP priorities ahead of the midterm elections.

While Graham was keen on delivering the defense funding by hook or by crook, Johnson is a veteran deficit hawk who told reporters Monday evening that identifying the maximum number of spending offsets “would certainly be one of my objectives” for the developing legislation.

Johnson said he is already in ongoing talks with House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), who is planning to advance a fiscal blueprint for the GOP-only bill as soon as this week. Some Republicans are eyeing billions of dollars in savings from targeting purported fraud in Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs to offset any new spending.

Johnson said he hasn’t seen a draft of the House budget blueprint, which must be adopted in both chambers to unlock the party-line reconciliation process, but expects to be in touch with Arrington and White House officials as the process progresses.

“It’s a team sport,” he said. “I just want to do everything I can to organize the effort so we can succeed.”

Johnson said he is also vetting a House proposal related to voter-ID legislation from Rep. Bryan Steil, the fellow Wisconsin Republican who leads the House panel overseeing election matters. If found to comply with strict reconciliation rules, it could serve to partially sidestep the Democratic filibuster of the SAVE America Act — the GOP elections bill that Trump has repeatedly pushed Congress to pass.

“I’ve already given that to Budget Committee staff to kind of get their opinion on it,” Johnson said of Steil’s proposal. “I mean, in the end, it’s going to be the parliamentarian that rules.”