Congress

Johnson and Vought pitch House Republicans on latest reconciliation effort

Published

3 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Speaker Mike Johnson and White House budget chief Russ Vought tried to rally House Republicans Tuesday morning around passing a party-line package containing the administration’s $95 billion supplemental funding request for the Iran war and farm aid — by promising members they’d get another chance to pass a more sweeping partisan policy bill after the midterms.

A group of GOP holdouts, however, has yet to fully fall in line ahead of a critical vote Wednesday on a budget resolution that would pave the way for a filibuster-skirting reconciliation bill containing the war and agriculture funding plus components of the so-called SAVE America Act.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said the pitch “wasn’t that compelling.”

Johnson and Vought told House Republicans at the closed-door conference meeting Tuesday morning that the vote on the budget resolution Wednesday was simply a first step, according to four people inside the room.

Vought also argued the political realities in the Senate shaped the package the White House and House GOP leaders are currently pushing.

Johnson cannot lose more than a tiny handful of Republicans on the budget resolution, and he’s already lost at least one: Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) said in an interview Monday he planned to oppose the resolution and was not at all moved by the argument for a fourth reconciliation bill.

There’s also a procedural rule vote Tuesday afternoon paving the way for floor consideration not just on the budget blueprint but a stopgap government funding package, the annual defense policy bill and legislation to crack down on congressional stock trading. Republicans could vote down the rule to prevent any one of these measures from advancing.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said he thought Vought’s pitch could have some resonance given the stakes of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“I thought Russ did a good job laying out why this approach makes sense,” Jordan said in an interview. When you’ve got a military operation, you’ve got to replenish the bullets. And I don’t think the Democrats are going to vote for that, so I don’t know how else to do it.”

He also said he thought most fiscal hawks did understand and appreciate the argument that approving supplemental funding through reconciliation — even without offsets — will cost less than negotiating a supplemental with Democrats.

“We’re going to know here in a few hours — we’ve got a rule vote coming up,” Jordan added.

Congress

Speaker endorses ban on lawmaker relationships with all staff — not just subordinates

Published

57 minutes ago

July 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he supports a more extensive ban on lawmakers having sexual relationships with any congressional aides — not just subordinates in a personal office or on a committee.

Johnson replied “yeah,” when asked at a news conference whether he’s on board with remarks made over the weekend by House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain of Michigan in support of establishing new rules barring members from having sex with any congressional staff.

It’s unclear what the path forward is for such a change, but it would require a revision to the House Code of Official Conduct — and an endorsement from two of the top lawmakers in the House is a promising sign there could be action.

The staff director for the House Ethics Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the House in 2018 opted to formally ban members from having intimate relationships with their subordinates in personal offices or on the committees on which the lawmakers serve, with an exception for lawmakers who are married to staffers.

This latest push from McClain, and now the speaker, to expand the prohibition is partly a response to recent reporting on Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), outlining that Gallego had relationships with staffers who were not under his supervision.

There has also been a swell of misconduct allegations earlier this year, in which it was reported that former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) sexually assaulted a staffer and that former Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) had a sexual relationship with a woman in his congressional office who later died by suicide. Both men were forced to resign amid the allegations.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

Democratic opposition mounts to GOP stopgap funding measure

Published

1 hour ago

July 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Democrats are making clear they’re in no mood to back a Republican-led bill punting a government funding fight to after the midterms — potentially dooming the GOP effort.

Leaving their weekly caucus meeting Tuesday morning, Democrats blasted Republicans for seeking to circumvent the bipartisan appropriations process by scheduling a vote for Tuesday evening on a stopgap funding measure that would extend federal spending levels until Dec. 4.

“It’s an abdication of responsibility to the country at a critical time,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, a senior Democratic appropriator, said in an interview.

“If you want our support, you should want to negotiate with us in good faith,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) agreed.

And while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York did not announce plans for Democratic leadership to whip against the continuing resolution, he expressed strong opposition to the plan at a leadership meeting Monday, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversation.

Multiple lawmakers left their caucus meeting Tuesday under the impression that Democratic leaders were firmly in the “no” camp — a break from precedent where Democrats have traditionally supported “clean” stopgap funding bills.

The No. 3 House Democrat, Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, said at a news conference following the meeting that “I’ll be voting ‘no.’ And if any members ask, I would encourage them to do the same.”

If Democrats unite in voting against the measure, it’s not clear whether Republicans will be able to make up for the shortfall, as many fiscal hawks are never inclined to vote for continuing resolutions. Aguilar, however, also underscored at his news conference that this was not “a serious proposal,” with Senate Republicans unlikely to take up the House measure.

“It’s kind of a Trojan horse scenario here,” Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland, another Democratic appropriator, said of the Republican bill in an interview after the caucus meeting.

The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, outlined her opposition in the Tuesday morning members’ meeting, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

She is seeking explicit language that prohibits funding for Customs and Border Protection and is also circulating a fact sheet laying out her issues with the legislation.

Congress

Raskin seeks documents into Jeffrey Epstein’s foreign contacts

Published

2 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, is pushing the federal government to provide all of its records on Jeffrey Epstein’s contacts with foreign governments, pursuant to an inquiry he launched Tuesday into whether the convicted sex offender had acted as an unregistered foreign agent.

It’s perhaps a preview of House Democrats’ plans for next year if they take back the House majority in the November midterm elections. Raskin could assume the House Judiciary Committee gavel as soon as January, giving him the broad subpoena powers necessary to capitalize on an investigation.

“Jeffrey Epstein never registered as a foreign agent,” Raskin wrote in a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence. “Yet numerous recently released documents now show he acted aggressively on behalf of multiple foreign governments, including several with interests adverse to the United States, in order to influence policies of the first Trump Administration.”

Raskin has little power to pull together a full-scale investigation while his party remains in the minority.

But he could yet succeed in dragging Epstein back into the mainstream. Last year, the public backlash after the White House announced it was shelving its investigation on Epstein’s contacts threatened to engulf the administration, leading Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to successfully force a House vote that resulted in a release of the files.

The White House “absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files,” Vice President JD Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan last week.

In his Tuesday letter, Raskin alleged that Epstein had offered to serve as a conduit between Saudi Arabia and members of the Trump administration, consulted with Russian officials on engaging with the president and advised former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“An unrepentant global sex trafficker who described himself as the ‘best friend’ of the President for many years interacted with foreign governments at the highest levels and offered them advice on how to deal with the President and influence his Administration,” Raskin wrote.

It’s not illegal to lobby on behalf of a foreign government, but it’s a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act not to register as a foreign agent.