Congress

How Trump is hammering Congress ‘on every issue’ — with a clear focus

Published

2 years ago

December 12, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump is beginning to lean on Congress in a big way, but it’s all about next year.

Trump is focusing his efforts and expending political capital to ensure that Republican lawmakers go along with confirming his Cabinet picks and can ramp up right away on delivering on his campaign pledges in 2025.

He regularly talks to senators about his nominees, ensuring they’re on a path to confirmation next year, according to a Trump adviser granted anonymity to discuss the conversations. He’s speaking with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson about his legislative priorities, namely how to quickly pass immigration, energy and tax policies in major party-line bills.

“Did you hear we have another member? We have 221 members,” joked Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.). “Trump’s in the House on every issue.”

But he’s been silent, at least publicly, about his preferences on the end-of-year spending bill and the Dec. 20 government shutdown deadline, despite calls from Republicans to weigh in. In a must-pass defense policy compromise, Republicans dropped certain culture-war provisions with knowledge that Trump will likely take executive action to address the issues. And Trump declined to tip the scales in Senate Republicans’ leadership elections beyond raising the specter of using recess appointments to ram through his Cabinet nominees.

“My impression is he’s been very focused on what’s happening next and what he’s about to inherit,” Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, an incoming member of Senate GOP leadership, said in an interview.

It shows Trump and congressional leaders are focused on moving in lockstep next year, hoping to cut down on party infighting and pass their major policy priorities quickly. Republicans have privately groused that they felt they squandered their majorities in 2017, wasting their previous Washington trifecta on unsuccessful efforts to repeal Obamacare. Intra-party divisions are already cropping up over the party’s strategy over taxes and the border, but GOP leaders are working to get everyone on the same page ahead of next year. In the meantime, they’re mostly putting Congress on autopilot in the lame duck.

Johnson, especially, has had close ties with Trump as the two GOP leaders plan out the legislative agenda next year. He’s met with the president-elect multiple times at Mar-a-Lago and speaks with Trump or members of his team every day. Johnson told reporters he will talk with Trump this weekend before the Army-Navy game in Maryland about the party’s budget reconciliation strategy, which is sparking early division among House and Senate Republicans as some push to pass border priorities more quickly and take more time to write a sweeping tax bill. The budget reconciliation process allows Republicans to skirt a Senate filibuster and pass priorities on a party-line basis.

Thune has also traveled to Mar-a-Lago to strategize with Trump and his team about next year’s legislative agenda, according to a person granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting. And he regularly talks with Trump regarding the status of his nominees, according to another person granted anonymity to discuss the conversations.

Trump’s largely passive attitude toward Congress’ end-of-term business echoes how Trump handled the post-2016 lame duck period, when the president-elect mostly eschewed wading into legislative fights on Capitol Hill before assuming office. And, if past is prologue, his hands-off approach is unlikely to last. Just look at his allies’ current attempts to both pressure Republicans into approving Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks and bully them into going along with their federal budget-slashing plans.

Trump stayed mostly quiet as the 2016 lame-duck Congress passed a short-term government funding patch into April, approved the defense bill, greenlit hundreds of millions of dollars for Flint, Mich. to deal with its water crisis and enacted a sweeping bill meant to speed drugs and medical devices onto the market.

The president-elect’s team at the time ultimately agreed with the congressional legislative maneuvering, though Trump largely avoided using his then near-ubiquitous Twitter account to intervene. He posted on social media just once mentioning Congress from November 2016 until Inauguration Day, questioning a House Republican move to eviscerate an ethics office (they abandoned the push). He also urged the cancellation of a contract for a new Air Force One.

But upon taking office, Trump — often volleying out invectives through social media — would frequently weigh in on legislative priorities or urge the confirmation of his nominees and judicial picks, sometimes throwing a curveball at lawmakers at the last minute. And a similar pattern could play out next year.

“He’ll get involved once he gets in. There’s no reason for him to” before then, said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).

Trump’s allies on Blue Light News, members of Republican leadership and GOP strategists defended Trump’s hands-off approach to the lame-duck in interviews. Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and Hill alum, said it’s “smart [for Trump] to stay out” and focus on building his administration in the short window he has before Jan. 20.

“Obviously, he’s pretty busy with nominations and filling out his Cabinet and all that,” echoed Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of Senate GOP leadership.

And Trump will have a full plate as soon as he comes into office. Congress is only set to patch spending into March, meaning negotiations over new spending levels will begin in earnest once he takes office. He’ll also have to contend with raising the debt limit early next year, in addition to the massive, party-line budget reconciliation bills that Republicans want to pass.

All of those priorities will test the GOP’s unity — with any potential fights impeding swift progress on some of Trump’s biggest priorities.

“There’s a lot he’s got to deal with,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said. And these early machinations “are [a] pretty good exposing of what he’s going to have to deal with [in] the Republican Conference.”

Jordain Carney, Olivia Beavers, Ursula Perano and Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.

Congress

House Dems launch ads in four more Trump districts

Published

3 hours ago

October 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Democrats’ campaign arm is expanding its target list just three weeks ahead of Election Day, going on the air for the first time in four more districts with coordinated ad buys with the candidates.

The move, part of $13 million in coordinated ads launching this week across 39 districts and first shared with Blue Light News, is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s largest reach of investments this cycle as Republicans are working to defend a slew of redder seats in the final stretch.

The new districts include a toss-up race in Florida’s newly redrawn 22nd District, which Trump would have won by 10 points in 2024, as well as for Democrats’ uphill fight to defend Maine’s 2nd District, which President Donald Trump carried by nine points and where Democratic Rep. Jared Golden is retiring.

They’re also launching coordinated ads in New Jersey’s swingy 7th District, squarely within New York City’s expensive media market, where Democrats are working to unseat GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr.

The coordinated ad buys also include Texas’s redrawn 35th District, where Democrat Johnny Garcia is running neck and neck with Republican Carlos De La Cruz in a suburban San Antonio district Republicans drew to win that Trump would have carried by 10 points.

The DCCC’s move comes as President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc.-aligned super PAC and a leading House GOP super PAC are planning to ditch spending in a group of House races in the coming days, as they race to shore up other House seats and salvage the Senate GOP majority.

“As Republicans pull out of media markets and cede that they are no longer competitive in multiple districts, the DCCC is continuing to go on the offensive,” DCCC National Political Director Brooke Butler said.

The NRCC has been up with ads in the four districts for weeks.

“While Democrats are just now scraping together the cash to bail out their radical socialists in critical battleground districts, House Republicans have been dominating the airwaves in those same districts and dozens more for weeks,” NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella said. “The DCCC is desperately playing catch-up where Republicans have already lapped them.”

The DCCC didn’t share the exact size of the specific coordinated ad buys, only saying they were six-figure commitments.

Congress

Mary Peltola raises $17 million in Q3 in Alaska’s Senate race

Published

3 hours ago

October 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Rep. Mary Peltola raked in $17 million over the last three months, her campaign shared first with Blue Light News, a sizable haul for the Democratic challenger in one of the biggest Senate battlegrounds.

It’s Peltola’s largest quarterly fundraising total in her bid to oust GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. Her campaign also said it’s a record third-quarter sum for a Senate candidate in Alaska.

“Alaskans are sick and tired of DC politicians making life more expensive for everyone while they keep lining their own pockets, and they know it’s time for a change,” Peltola said in a statement thanking her supporters.

That total includes nearly $3 million in Peltola raised in July, before Alaska’s all-party primary in August, which was previously reported to the Federal Election Commission. Peltola’s campaign did not release her cash on hand for the quarter that ended Oct. 1.

Sullivan’s campaign has not yet released his third-quarter numbers. Sullivan had just under $7.3 million in cash on hand as of July 29, while Peltola had $4.6 million at that point.

Alaska has emerged as a core battleground this cycle as both parties reorient around redder states while Georgia and North Carolina tilt toward Democrats. Recent polls show a tight race.

Republicans are racing to shore up Sullivan in the four-way, ranked-choice general election in which the senator is also facing a same-name challenger in retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan. Some in the party fear he could siphon votes from the incumbent.

President Donald Trump is heading to Alaska for a rally later Tuesday in Wasilla that Sullivan is slated to attend, the senator’s campaign confirmed. Vice President JD Vance swung through the state last week.

Peltola’s fundraising prowess has helped her hold her own on the airwaves. Republicans hold a slim spending advantage on the TV ad reservations for the final three weeks of the campaign, with both parties posting over $9 million in reservations, per tracker AdImpact.

Congress

Capitol agenda: GOP readies for an underwhelming lame duck

Published

3 hours ago

October 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Republicans’ dreams of a productive lame-duck session are dimming.

Members returning to Washington post-election will have a mere 24 legislative days to get through a considerable list of must-pass bills and possibly messy internal leadership fights. That’s if they can overcome a potential transition of power on Capitol Hill and a foul national mood.

Lawmakers’ must-do list includes: an extension of government funding past Dec. 11 and the annual Pentagon policy bill. Major legislation to reauthorize farm, transportation and surveillance programs are also on deck.

Then there are pending bipartisan bills overhauling energy permitting and the college sports industry that many members are itching to get done.

And finally, leaders had deferred some GOP priorities — such as another party-line reconciliation bill or debt-limit increase through the end of President Donald Trump’s term.

All of the measures face their own potential political minefields individually, as well as a number of obstacles across the board:

— ATTENDANCE: There will be little incentive for lawmakers who just lost their seats — “free-range chickens,” some call them — to grind out legislative wins, if they come back at all.

“The question becomes: Who shows up for work after the elections?” Rep. Austin Scott said in an interview. “Attendance is an issue right now.”

— NEW LEVERAGE: If Democrats win control of either chamber, they’ll likely seek greater influence on legislation to push back on Trump’s actions.

For example, Democrats are fuming over the Trump administration’s recent decision to block roughly $1 billion in congressionally approved funding, which could complicate any deal on spending legislation. They’ve also blocked the annual Pentagon policy bill amid a standoff over the Iran war; and they may push for more concessions on the permitting deal.

“The lame duck will be quite different if we win the Senate,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a recent interview.

— GOP DISPUTES: While some Republicans believe that losing a chamber would jump-start the reconciliation process, others privately believe the exact opposite would happen, with incentives waning for exiting lawmakers, according to three GOP aides granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Other GOP senators, like Sen. Cynthia Lummis, are skeptical of a debt-limit increase.

A Democratic flip of the House could also spark a potentially chaotic cascade of GOP leadership elections (more on that below).

Sen. John Kennedy speculated Congress’ agenda would all come down to the vibes of the GOP conference when they returned.

“You have no idea what the mood is going to be,” Kennedy said.

What else we’re watching:

— JOHNSON SCRAMBLES LEADERSHIP OUTLOOK: Republicans are reassessing the dynamics of potential leadership races after Speaker Mike Johnson‘s comments Monday that he would run for minority leader if the GOP loses the House — just days after he floated leaving Congress altogether in that scenario. Many Republicans had predicted Johnson would step aside with a House flip, likely setting off a race between Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan for the top GOP spot. If Johnson stays put, his success may depend on the severity of the party’s loss and if Trump weighs in for a certain candidate. “I hope he’s smarter than that,” one House Republican said of Johnson’s consideration of the minority leader role. “It would end very badly and cause unnecessary damage to the conference.”

— DEMS GEAR UP ON TRADE OVERSIGHT — Democrats on the House Ways and Means, Senate Finance and other panels say Trump’s trade deals were corrupt, and they’re already lining up targets to probe. The party knows it can’t repeal Trump’s tariffs as long as he’s in the White House, but if they win control of Congress, they plan to haul in top administration officials and possibly executives to explain how Trump picked his targets in his trade war — and if others got a pass through suspected quid pro quos.

Jordain Carney, Daniel Desrochers and Oliver Ward contributed to this report.