Congress

Jeffries calls on Biden to pardon more Americans

Published

2 years ago

December 3, 2024

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.

Congress

Gary Peters endorses Haley Stevens for his seat

Published

2 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Outgoing Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens on Monday in the contentious primary to replace him.

Stevens and progressive former public health official Abdul El-Sayed are facing off in the Aug. 4 primary, after state Sen. Mallory McMorrow suspended her campaign earlier this month.

The nominee will face Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers in the November general election.

“Haley began her service to Michigan as a critical part of our team as President Obama and I fought to save 200,000 jobs — rescuing and helping the auto industry come roaring back. I’m proud that Haley was recognized as the most effective Michigan Democrat in Congress,” Peters said in a statement.

The race between El-Sayed and Stevens is perhaps the biggest ideological battle in the party this year. Stevens has support from mainstream Democrats — including the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — and has seen outside support from the pro-Israel group AIPAC.

El-Sayed, meanwhile, has galvanized progressives and has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), among others.

If Democrats lose the general election to Rogers, it will be difficult for them to reclaim the Senate.

While Stevens has received support of establishment groups that argue their methods are best to take on Rogers, El-Sayed and his backers contend that the energy lies with their movement.

Congress

House Republicans to huddle with CBO chief amid reconciliation talks

Published

2 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A large group of House Republicans will meet this week with Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel as the GOP races to advance another party-line policy bill — and overcome disagreements over how to pay for it.

Swagel leads Capitol Hill’s nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, which calculates the official price tags and economic impacts of legislation. He will address the conservative Republican Study Committee at its weekly lunch Wednesday, according to an invite obtained by Blue Light News.

The huddle comes as Speaker Mike Johnson and fellow GOP leaders are gathering with House Budget Committee Republicans at Camp David to plot a strategy for convincing skeptical deficit hawks to greenlight a filibuster-skirting reconciliation bill paid for largely with cuts to so-called fraud across Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs.

Even if rank-and-file Republicans go along with the plan, however, those cuts to “fraud” that leaders are envisioning won’t be enough to offset the entire price tag under under CBO’s current scoring methods. Fiscal conservatives are demanding every dollar spent is immediately offset with corresponding spending cuts — including the Trump administration’s request that Congress approve at least tens of billions of funding for the Iran war.

Republicans in recent weeks have tried to explore whether Swagel would consider a taking different approach to scoring the fraud cuts expected in the package, to little avail. They could try again at the meeting Wednesday.

Congress

State Department funding could get caught in House GOP’s elections-bill pickle

Published

4 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House GOP leaders continue to struggle with conservative hard-liners’ demands for action on the SAVE America Act and are exploring whether to seek to attach the partisan elections bill to spending legislation scheduled for floor consideration this week.

Speaker Mike Johnson used a similar maneuver last month to attach the SAVE America Act to the annual defense policy bill, but Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) rejected the gambit — leading Johnson to send the House home for its July 4 recess early.

Now he and fellow leaders are considering doing the same this for the fiscal 2027 funding bill for the State Department and overseas programs, according to three people granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations.

It’s not clear whether the move would appease Luna and other hard-liners who want the stalled elections bill attached to every piece of legislation coming across the House floor in an effort to ramp up pressure on the Senate, which has not acted on the SAVE America Act.

House GOP leaders are also trying to entice Luna to allow the rule to clear this week by calling up a bill that make would daylight saving time permanent — a key priority for Luna and other Florida lawmakers. They are also seeking to appease a separate group of conservative holdouts who are threatening to block action on other bills unless they secure a vote on immigration legislation that has been bogged down in internal GOP fights.