Congress
Jeffries calls on Biden to pardon more Americans
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on President Joe Biden to pardon more people convicted of nonviolent offenses amid controversy over the president’s pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.
“During his final weeks in office, President Biden should exercise the high level of compassion he has consistently demonstrated throughout his life, including toward his son, and pardon on a case-by-case basis the working-class Americans in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unjustly aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent offenses,” Jeffries said in a statement.
Jeffries’ comments echo the calls from some other Democrats who in recent days have asked Biden to use his clemency powers for more Americans in federal custody besides Hunter and to address sentencing disparities. But it did not pass judgment on the pardon of Hunter Biden itself. Some in the caucus have openly criticized the president since the pardon was issued and said it could tarnish his legacy and open a lane for Donald Trump to issue similar sweeping pardons.
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) launched an investigation Wednesday into Roblox’s handling of child safety on its online gaming platform.
“Roblox appears to prioritize revenue and engagement metrics over the safety and well-being of our children, and the alleged criminal activity on Roblox warrants congressional scrutiny,” Hawley and Durbin, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, wrote in a letter obtained by Blue Light News.
Roblox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As part of the probe, the lawmakers have asked Roblox CEO David Baszucki for documents detailing how the platform protects minors as the Senate intensifies scrutiny of children’s online experiences.
Last week, the Senate Commerce Committee advanced a slate of bills aimed at protecting kids on social media platforms. Hawley, meanwhile, has lobbied to include his and Durbin’s bill to curb child sexual abuse material online, the Stop CSAM Act, in the must-pass defense policy bill.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has also negotiated with tech companies over whether top executives will testify about how their platforms protect young users. The committee’s chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), has separately probed Meta over alleged negligence and pushed for legislation that is intended to combat child exploitation online.
Hawley and Durbin’s missive lay out a series of high-profile instances in which adult users allegedly committes “serious acts of violence and harm against children they met via Roblox, including grooming, sexual abuse, kidnapping, rape, and even murder.”
These cases have spurred lawsuits nationwide, with Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson (R) seeking to lead a class-action lawsuit against the platform earlier last week. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D), in a separate suit, secured a $12 million settlement and a promise to make platform changes.
“Let us be clear: children on your platform are hurting,” Hawley and Durbin wrote. “Congress will not look the other way.”
The pair asked Roblox for a response no later than Aug. 31.
In a sign of momentum for efforts to punt government funding talks beyond the midterms, House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx predicted Thursday that a Senate-approved stopgap spending measure could pass in the House.
“I think it will pass on suspension,” the North Carolina Republican told reporters as she presided over a pro forma session of the House.
She was referring to an expedited procedure typically reserved for noncontroversial bills that require a two-thirds majority vote to secure passage — a workaround for House GOP leaders who might not be able to bring the measure up under a party-line procedural rule.
Before leaving for their extended recess this past weekend, senators passed a bill with overwhelming bipartisan support that would extend current government funding levels until Dec. 11, with some exceptions. It also included a provision that would block the Trump administration from finalizing — for the length of the stopgap — a controversial plan to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants.
In contrast, the House passed a short-term funding measure before its own summer break that would put off larger government funding decisions until Dec. 4. Democrats largely opposed that bill, angry at Republicans for shutting them out of negotiations and not including legislative language to ensure funding would not go to certain immigration enforcement activities.
Foxx’s suggestion that House Republicans could ultimately eschew their original plan for the Senate’s offering could be foreshadowing an inevitable compromise between the two chambers as members of both parties are eager to spend as much time as possible in their districts leading up to the November elections — rather than being stuck in Washington at loggerheads.
The Senate measure, which incorporated the funding increases and authorizations the Trump administration requested, also has the White House’s explicit support.
But it’s not clear whether Speaker Mike Johnson would agree to put the Senate bill on the floor, under suspension or otherwise. A Johnson spokesperson did not say Thursday whether the speaker would advance the measure.
One top House Democrat signaled she would likely help get the Senate spending bill over the finish line: Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, called the measure “a welcome improvement” from the House’s product.
Special tax carve-outs for everyday Americans are suddenly all the rage in Congress.
What began with President Donald Trump’s signature tax cuts has sprung copycats, with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle proposing breaks on virtually everything — from boat loan interest to selling New Jersey swag.
“Must be an election year,” Rep. David Schweikert, a retiring tax writer.
It’s all part of lawmakers’ push to show they’re responding to voters’ affordability concerns ahead of the midterms, despite the mixed reviews for last year’s GOP tax cuts — even from Trump supporters.
The slew of targeted tax break proposals are modeled and named after some of the best known provisions of Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with titles like “No Taxes on Utility Bills” and “No Tax on Health Care.”
Still, they’ve spurred frustrations from some conservatives over clogging the tax code with smaller, specific changes, while progressives worry the breaks eat into funding dollars they’d like to see go elsewhere. And fiscal hawks have sounded off on concerns over shrinking the tax base while the U.S. has a sky-high deficit.
None of this is set to go away anytime soon, tax experts say, as provisions from the megabill are poised to expire in 2028. That leaves lawmakers with an opportunity to extend and create more special exemptions in addition to the tax breaks on tips, overtime, seniors and car-loan interest.
“These policies elicited eye rolls with Republicans while they were crafting the tax bill — these were just Trumpist favors they had to include before getting to the real tax cuts,” said Jessica Riedl, a former Republican tax aide now at Brookings Institution. “Over time, Republicans have increasingly embraced this kind of stuff. I don’t think this is a temporary trend.”
Plus, for Democrats, there’s the exemptions that possible 2028 hopefuls have been looking to enact, from Sen. Jon Ossoff’s proposal to temporarily allow farmers to shield crop payments from taxes to Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s plan to strike everyone earning less than $46,000 from paying federal income taxes.
And both parties recognize that allowing the breaks to lapse during a presidential election year could be a risky gambit.
“I don’t know what they think is going to happen,” said Bob Lord, a vice president at Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy individuals who support higher taxes, who helped devise Van Hollen’s plan. “If they do away with no tax on tips, well, they can kiss the state of Nevada goodbye.”
What else we’re watching:
— FIRST IN IC: FLANAGAN TALKS SCHUMER, PANELS: Democratic Senate hopeful Peggy Flanagan — fresh off her primary victory in Minnesota Tuesday —said she’d pursue many of the same committee assignments as predecessor Sen. Tina Smith if elected. “This particular seat has a long track record of serving on the Indian Affairs Committee,” Flanagan, who would be the first Native American woman elected to the chamber, said, adding she “would look forward to serving on that committee and bringing my lived experience and work in strengthening tribal government relations to that table.” Flanagan also flagged Agriculture, Banking and Health, adding “there are a lot of priorities for Minnesotans that go right through that committee.” Flanagan also declined to back Chuck Schumer as the party’s leader should Democrats retake the chamber, saying she was “grateful” for his work but, “I think it’s time for us to have a new voice in that role.”
— REPUBLICANS TRY TO KEEP THEIR FRAUD FIGHTING DREAMS ALIVE: House Republicans are hoping Vice President JD Vance’s personal appeal to the conference to tackle alleged abuse of safety-net programs will push the issue back to the forefront of the GOP’s already-long priority list. But many are skeptical any such legislation will ultimately reach the president’s desk. Finding ways to cut government waste and fraud across Medicare, Medicaid and federal food assistance programs was a top priority for House Republicans, who set out earlier this year to pass another party-line reconciliation package centralizing the effort. Many believed the fraud issue would speak to voters’ larger concerns about affordability, since it would ostensibly involve returning lost funds to government programs.
Brian Faler, Mia McCarthy and Robert King contributed to this report.
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