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.
Hours after Sen. Thom Tillis demanded acting Attorney General Todd Blanche meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, President Donald Trump’s nominee to permanently lead the Justice Department did just that.
In a social media post Thursday evening, Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, signaled he was satisfied that Blanche had followed through on his ask, saying he “commend[ed] Todd Blanche for doing what all his predecessors over the last two decades never did: meet with the victims of Jeffery Epstein’s horrific crimes.”
Tillis, who said he would not vote to advance Blanche’s nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee until Blanche met with Epstein victims, added, “I appreciate his willingness to directly engage and listen to them.”
One victim who attended the meeting, however, decried the meeting as “insufficient.”
“Unfortunately, Todd Blanche treated the meeting as a mere ‘check-the-box’ exercise intended to secure votes for his confirmation,” Danielle Bensky, a survivor whose identity was exposed as part of a flawed redaction process during the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files that Blanche oversaw as deputy attorney general, said in a statement Thursday.
“He danced around his wording, repeatedly interrupted us and could not commit to anything that would demonstrate good faith ro begin to restore trust,” she added.
Bensky, who was invited by Democrats to testify on a panel of outside witnesses earlier Thursday as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation proceedings for Blanche, also said that Blanche “did not adequately account for the release of the materials that exposed survivors’ identifying information and images.”
Bensky said she hoped Tillis will ultimately “recognize that this meeting was insufficient” and that Blanche ”is not qualified to serve as attorney general.”
Tillis has still not said how he will vote on Blanche in the Judiciary Committee. Assuming all Democrats on the panel vote “no,” a single Republican defection could keep Blanche’s nomination from advancing to the Senate floor. A spokesperson for Tillis did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bensky’s statement, and whether her characterization could affect his decision.
A Justice Department spokesperson in a statement defended Blanche’s meeting.
“Acting Attorney General Blanche, senior DOJ officials, FBI special agents, and victim services representatives met with Epstein victims today and had a productive, initial discussion,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement. “Acting AG Blanche answered questions and walked through what is needed for investigations to proceed.
“While some victims said that they had not reached out to the FBI under this administration, he encouraged victims to meet with FBI investigators as the next step, and attendees spoke with agents after the meeting about scheduling interviews,” the spokesperson continued. “The Justice Department is determined to bring justice for all victims of human trafficking and sex crimes.”
Reconciliation 3.0 is on the move in the House.
House Republicans advanced their budget plan out of committee Thursday afternoon — the initial legislative step toward clearing their third party-line budget reconciliation package ahead of the impending August recess.
The House Budget Committee voted to approve a budget resolution along party lines, 20-14. The measure would unlock $95 billion for a GOP-only package to deliver funding President Donald Trump has demanded for the Pentagon, farmers and other priorities.
What the budget blueprint doesn’t contain is instructions to committees to find the vast savings that fiscal hawks were looking for to pay for the new spending. House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) tried to quell concerns from within his party about a lack of offsets required within the budget resolution by pointing to executive branch action.
“He declared war on fraud,” Arrington told the panel, referring to Trump. “He has a whole of government attack on that $500-plus billion a year in fraud.”
On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance also tried to respond to hard-liners’ concerns by telling a gathering of House Republicans that his White House-based task force on fraud is already finding savings from social programs to offset spending. Fiscal hawks were not sold.
Some budget hawks including Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) voted to advance the resolution in committee. Rep. Chip Roy (R) of Texas did not vote in committee. On Wednesday he told reporters “the stupidest thing to do would be to try to jam it through committee when you’ve got bigger problem[s] on the House floor.”
The budget resolution prescribes up to $73 billion for military and intelligence programs and $12 billion for farm assistance. It also opens the door for Republicans to put another $10 billion toward election-related matters including grants to states to incentivize strict voter-ID laws. That portion of the effort is an attempt to enact some of the controversial election security bill that Trump is demanding be passed before he signs any other legislation.
“Not one word on bringing down costs for the American people. Not one word,” ranking member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said of the nearly 50-page budget resolution. “Instead, we have tens of billions of dollars for the most unpopular war in American history.”
The $73 billion allowed for military and intelligence is about the amount the White House sought in another emergency funding request last month. But the defense total is far below Trump’s demand of $350 billion in new party-line Pentagon funding this year. Of the $60 billion in defense funding, some would go to the ongoing war in Iran and another portion to service member pay, which Pentagon officials have warned will run short in August.
The panel defeated all 14 amendments Democrats offered, including proposals to roll back a bevy of policies from Republicans’ earlier party-line policy bills. Those measures targeted cuts to nutrition assistance programs, energy programs, student loan limitations and changes to Affordable Care Act policies.
Other rejected proposals include language to bar any taxpayer dollars from going to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, barring funding for Trump’s White House ballroom and striking down Trump’s tariffs impacting agriculture producers. Multiple Democratic amendments focused on the conduct of federal immigration officers after several fatal shootings in recent days.
A floor vote on the fiscal blueprint is House GOP leaders’ next challenge in the arduous process of unlocking the filibuster-skirting power of reconciliation. Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to put the resolution on the floor next week, but that will require a serious whip operation to persuade deficit hawks to support the resolution.
On Wednesday ahead of the markup, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) brushed off colleagues who are looking for the package to be fully paid for, including the defense portion.
“When did you ever pay for a war? A lot of this is military expenses aimed at that war,” he said. “The point is that play’s been called. It’s time to put up or shut up.”
Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.
Congress
Crypto regulatory text expected to be released Thursday does not have Senate Democrat support
Senators are planning to release the updated text of a cryptocurrency regulatory bill shortly after a meeting with President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) told reporters.
Democratic senators are not expected to attend the meeting. Several Democrats said they wouldn’t support the version of the bill that could be released Thursday, suggesting it faces steep odds for passage.
Negotiations on the Clarity Act have gone back and forth for the better part of the past year. A major unresolved issue involves an ethics provision seeking to address Trump’s business ties to the crypto industry. The measure is a requirement for Senate Democrats, whose support is necessary to pass the bill through the chamber.
“We’ll do that right after the meeting,” Moreno said. “You guys have a lot of reading to do.”
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), who is also expected to attend the meeting, said in an interview Thursday she “certainly hopes” draft text is released after speaking with the president but didn’t confirm.
Moreno pointed to the time spent meeting with Democrats on the bill over the past year, and said “it’s time for a vote now, but the president asked for a briefing.”
The Ohio Republican said one of his main goals of the meeting with Trump is to get a vote on the bill before August recess.
Several Democrats said they wouldn’t support the version of the bill set for release Thursday because it lacks strong ethics provisions.
“They’re taking a version of the text to the president with their ethics provisions, not with anything that we agree to as Democrats,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a key negotiator of the legislation, said in an interview Thursday. “At the end of the day, we don’t have strong ethics. I don’t care what the president says. You’re not going to have the Democratic votes.”
Gallego said the version of ethics language he’s seen so far is “very weak” and gives “a lot of latitude to the president to continue doing his grift, and also it’s not very consumer protection friendly.”
Moreno has been adamant that the crypto bill “has the strongest ethics provision of any piece of legislation ever passed by any Congress.”
A Democratic Senate aide granted anonymity to discuss the unreleased draft said “the Republican plan being presented to the president is weaker than what Democrats will accept” and that “Democrats have not seen nor agreed to what is being presented to the White House.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who has been working on the CFTC portion of the bill, said in an interview he’s still in active negotiations on the bill, which aren’t expected to be finished Thursday.
“I hope they’re not going to drop something before we finish our negotiation,” Booker said. “The only way to get this done is a bipartisan pathway.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego’s party affiliation.
- Vance fails to quell fiscal hawk concerns about GOP reconciliation plans
- After Tillis’ demands, Todd Blanche meets with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims
- US Mint begins producing $1 coin with Trump’s face on it
- Gillibrand and Boozman roll out new bipartisan paid leave bill
- Johnson preps to punt government funding through midterms
- Todd Blanche’s chances of becoming attorney general could hinge on John Cornyn
- Dems churn through cash ahead of tense Michigan Senate primary
- Vance fails to quell fiscal hawk concerns about GOP reconciliation plans
- Gillibrand and Boozman roll out new bipartisan paid leave bill
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