Congress

John Thune says he is ‘optimistic’ Senate will move to end shutdown this week

Published

11 months ago

November 3, 2025

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was “optimistic” an agreement can be reached this week to end the five-week shutdown as bipartisan rank-and-file talks make progress.

Thune, speaking to reporters, said the goal was to be able to send a revised stopgap bill to the House by the end of the week to reopen agencies.

“Obviously there were a lot of conversations over the weekend, and hopefully that will bring about the desired result,” Thune said.

The Senate is expected to extend the Nov. 21 expiration date of the House-passed funding punt for at least several more weeks. Thune previously told POLITICO that the deadline would need to be extended to at least January, but he hasn’t yet endorsed a specific timeline. GOP leaders are discussing a new deadline that would fall between late January and March.

Thune said on Monday that he is “open” to January but in listening mode as he faces competing demands within his conference.

“The longer sort of runway there is better,” he said.

The bipartisan group of rank-and-file senators has been discussing how to package a short-term funding patch that would reopen the government with a plan to move full-year funding bills and give Democrats a vote on soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Senators involved in the talks believe they are making progress, and while Thune said he was personally “optimistic” a shutdown off-ramp could be imminent, he said he wasn’t yet “confident.”

Republicans are hoping that more Democrats will signal they are ready to end the shutdown after Tuesday’s off-year elections, including closely watched governor races in New Jersey and Virginia.

Democrats say it isn’t the elections that are influencing their thinking but rather the pain that has been inflicted on Americans, including expected delays in federal food aid this month.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters Monday he also sensed senators are getting closer to an exit strategy but said he wasn’t yet sure what that would be. Democrats have demanded negotiations on health care and so far have rejected the offer of a vote absent a bipartisan deal.

Congress

Rep. Casar: ‘The AI race is not an arms race that you win’

Published

1 hour ago

September 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) is objecting to the notion that America should be focused on winning the AI race.

“The AI race is not an arms race that you win,” Casar said during the Blue Light News Decoded Summit in D.C. “It’s an arms race that we need to end, and we need to protect the American people.”

Casar also questioned the idea that competition with China should dissuade the U.S. from putting guardrails on AI, and noted he plans to release bill text for a proposal banning superintelligence. He further cast doubt on the impact of a pending bill to mitigate utility cost increases from data centers, reiterated his push for CEOs of the leading AI companies to testify before Congress.

“Over 30 members of Congress sent letters to these companies, and in the example of OpenAI, we asked if there were other incidents where AI got out of its sandbox, hacked into other companies,” Casar said. “Is there anything else we should know about in addition to hugging face?”

Speaking Tuesday at the Pro-Human Assembly, a conference on AI organized by the Future of Life Institute, Casar called for activists and whistleblowers to speak more forcefully about threats arising from advanced AI, saying the time for “tempered rhetoric has passed.”

His latest comments follow an array of warnings from employees at labs developing advanced AI models, including Anthropic whistleblower Jacob Coxon, which have fueled public concern about the technology’s advancing capabilities.

Public opinion over the risks associated with AI has hardened, with new results from The Blue Light News Poll underscoring the depth of anxieties about the rapidly developing technology. Overall, about two out of three Americans say there is at least a “moderate” risk that advanced AI could destroy humanity, with majorities across parties, genders and age groups holding that view.

Ahead of a House vote on a bipartisan bill designed to curb data center costs, Casar said he plans to vote for the bill —- but poured cold water on how much of an impact it will have.

“It’s not going to make a huge difference on the electric rates, especially right now,” Casar said. “There are way stronger proposals and I don’t really think that this one is gonna come off as much of a win for the Republicans who are flailing to hold on.”

One of the guardrails Casar proposed during the summit was a new cabinet-level agency to enforce AI safety measures. “

Congress

Congress in AI deadlock as public fear soars

Published

3 hours ago

September 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Nearly two thirds of Americans surveyed in a new Blue Light News poll out Wednesday see at least a moderate risk that artificial intelligence will destroy humanity, and nearly half favor pausing development of more advanced models.

The survey, conducted this week, magnifies the pressure some lawmakers say they’re facing from constituents to rein in the industry’s latest models. More than 100 House Democrats are urging House GOP leaders Wednesday to keep the chamber in session until they pass “meaningful, bipartisan AI safeguards,” Blue Light News scooped.

“I’ve just come back from Connecticut, and as I went around the state, a lot of people were talking about AI in a way they had not done before,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said at a Washington event Tuesday.

But Capitol Hill has been slow to respond to the issue. House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, whose panel has yet to rally around any specific AI safety bill, will likely overview what he sees as lawmakers’ next steps during Blue Light News’s Decoded Summit Wednesday in an interview with Kelsey Brugger.

So will Rep. Greg Casar in an interview with Riley Rogerson. Casar is among the progressives in Congress calling for an immediate moratorium on the development of the most advanced AI models and just yesterday encouraged whistleblowers to speak more forcefully on the growing threat of the technology.

The Blue Light News survey also spotlights a growing partisan divide over whether and how to regulate the emerging technology.

Fifty percent of Donald Trump 2024 voters said the U.S. should not allow itself to fall behind other countries in AI, even if that means taking risks to stay ahead of them. That compares to just 34 percent of Kamala Harris voters who feel the same.

The lack of political consensus in Congress only grew more obvious Tuesday.

OpenAI on Tuesday threw its weight behind what could be considered political middle ground by backing proposals requiring AI developers embed independent watchdogs to ensure their products are safe.

That idea was spiked by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who co-chairs the Democrat-only House Commission on AI. Gottheimer said developers should instead submit their models for mandatory government vetting.

Third party evaluators are a key part of arguably the most-developed AI safety legislation in Congress right now, led by Reps. Jay Obernolte and Lori Trahan, and Obernolte said yesterday he’s in conversations with OpenAI about the “urgent need for action.” But the overall measure is struggling to gain momentum on Blue Light News.

Meanwhile, leaders in the GOP just landed on a new strategy to combat worries AI will soon spiral out of control: calling it Democratic hysteria.

Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday likened the intense focus on AI threats to Democrats’ warnings about climate change: “You’re not all going to be dead in 10 years.”

Still, plenty of Republicans remain staunch in their belief Congress needs to step up — including Sen. Bill Cassidy, who argued as much on The Conversation with Blue Light News Tuesday.

“Anything that is this transformative, the American people need to weigh in on, and the American people express their thoughts and anxieties and hopes and aspirations through representative government,” he said.

What else we’re watching:

—HUSTED’S DATA CENTER PROBLEM: Ohio Sen. Jon Husted is drowning in political attacks centered on his past support for data centers. But the chamber’s leaders aren’t sure he’ll secure a lifeline. The House is expected to vote Wednesday on legislation meant to curb data center energy costs. And Husted, who is facing a tough midterm race, is trying to get his fellow senators to quickly follow suit.

— COLLEGE SPORTS BILL DRIVES AHEAD — More than two dozen Senate Democrats on Tuesday voted to advance a sweeping college athletics bill, teeing up more floor debate and a final passage vote before lawmakers leave to campaign for the midterms. The chamber is expected to stay for the entirety of its planned three-week session now that senators opened a path to take up the bill, according to four Senate aides granted anonymity to discuss planning.

Owen Dahlkamp, Dasha Burns and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Congress

Why the Senate might not solve Jon Husted’s data center problem

Published

6 hours ago

September 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Ohio Sen. Jon Husted is drowning in political attacks centered on his past support for data centers. A potential life preserver could end up just out of reach.

The House is expected to vote Wednesday on legislation that aims to compel technology companies to cover utility costs associated with data center buildouts. And Husted, who is seeking election in November to complete the final two years of the term he was appointed to, is trying to get his fellow senators to quickly follow suit.

But getting the Senate to leap into action this month is far from straightforward. Assuming the House acts on the measure Wednesday as planned, putting it on President Donald Trump’s desk before senators leave town for a final campaign sprint would require Husted to convince all 99 of his colleagues to agree to a quick vote — or even to let it pass without one.

There are already signs it could be a big ask, especially from Democrats who are already skeptical of the House bill and aren’t eager to give Husted a leg up in his race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, either.

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who has offered his own bill aimed at preventing data centers from shifting energy costs to consumers, called the bill Husted is backing a “fig leaf” in a Tuesday interview.

“I think it’s a very symbolic piece of legislation,” said Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “I would like to see something done that actually has some teeth to protect consumers.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was noncommittal Tuesday when asked at a news conference about artificial intelligence legislation and if Democrats could support an idea like Husted’s bill, known as the Ratepayer Protection Act. The New York Democrat said that there were “many different ways to approach AI” but they wouldn’t get done unless it was on a bipartisan basis.

While Husted’s bill has one cosponsor — a fellow Republican, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama — the House bill has multiple Democratic cosponsors and passed unanimously out of the Energy and Commerce Committee in July. House Republican leaders are so confident of bipartisan approval that they’re bringing the bill to the floor under a fast-track process requiring a two-thirds-majority vote.

Husted insisted to reporters Tuesday that he was not connecting his push for data center legislation with the political headwinds he’s facing back in Ohio.

“I don’t look at it in those terms,” Husted said. “I just think that it’s something that is just the right thing to do. … They need to pay their own way, and not pass their cost on.”

But with Brown hammering him on the Ohio airwaves as the “face of data centers,” Husted is facing an acute need to reassure voters on the issue. The Senate GOP campaign arm warned in a memo last month that data centers are “the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck” and that if Husted loses it could have negative consequences for the industry.

Getting the Ratepayer Protection Act to Trump’s desk would give Husted and other Republicans a key talking point to raise in TV ads and debate appearances as many acknowledge that the growing backlash from voters over data centers is becoming a grave political liability.

If Husted can’t get an across-the-board agreement to hold a vote, he could go to the floor and try to pass his bill by unanimous consent, but any one senator would be able to block his attempt.

Asked whether he would object to such an effort, Heinrich said he hadn’t considered it yet, but added that “given the pressures consumers are under right now, they deserve something more real.”

Schumer helped recruit Brown into the race against Husted, and the former senator has been running ads against Husted for months over his support for data centers as lieutenant governor.

“He led the path to bring data centers to Ohio and gave billions of tax dollars to make it happen,” the narrator says in one Brown campaign ad from earlier this month.

A spokesperson for Husted’s Senate office said in a statement that Husted has “always believed that it should be up to the local communities whether or not they want new data centers.”

Husted joined Trump in March for the signing of a “ratepayer protection pledge” aimed at defusing the issue for Republicans. The Husted spokesperson said his bill “simply codifies this pledge, and what he has always firmly believed: tech companies should be held accountable, and local ratepayers should not have to pay for new data centers.”

Democrats view Ohio as one of their best pickup opportunities on the Senate map, with political prognosticators viewing the contest as a tossup. If Husted is able to keep his seat in a state Trump won by more than 11 points in 2024, it would be a boon for Republicans’ fight to hold onto the majority.

The data center bill is not the only way Republicans could use the Senate floor to boost Husted, who was appointed last year by Gov. Mike DeWine to fill the seat vacated by JD Vance when he became vice president.

Two GOP senators granted anonymity to speak candidly said they believed a Tuesday vote on cryptocurrency regulation, for instance, was designed to help Husted. Democrats blocked the bill from advancing, and Republicans are hoping the crypto industry spends heavily in Ohio to defeat Brown, a former Senate Banking chair — as they did in 2024.

Republicans are also discussing if they can bring up a House-passed bill cracking down on lawmaker stock trading that also has voter ID language attached to it. Husted has pushed voter ID legislation in the Senate.

Asked about the data center bill Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso said in an interview that “we’ll see how it goes there and get it over here.”

Unprompted, he added, “Since you mentioned Senator Husted, I would also like to do the stock trading ban, which also requires a mandatory showing of voter ID.”

Husted said that he believed his data center bill is “broadly supported” and that he’s hoping a strong House vote will “give us some good momentum to get it done in the Senate.”

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune cautioned that it would take buy-in from all 100 senators to move it quickly.

“We’ll see what the options are over here,” Thune said in an interview. “He obviously has the option to try and ask [for unanimous consent] to get it done.”

Anthony Cruz contributed to this report.