Congress

Johnson: House will amend stalled housing bill despite White House, Senate GOP pushback

Published

2 months ago

May 15, 2026

Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday morning he still intends for the House to vote on changes to the Senate’s version of a stalled housing affordability package — despite intense opposition from White House officials and Senate Republicans.

“Yeah, I don’t think we have the votes to pass the Senate bill as this, so we’re going to stand by the House product,” Johnson said.

In doing so, Johnson is defying White House officials and GOP senators who are deeply opposed to his plan to amend the housing bill on the House floor next week and send it back to the Senate. White House officials have told Blue Light News the new bill text unveiled in the House this week may contain “serious policy concerns or implementation challenges.”

“The bill is under review. New provisions were added before the administration had a chance to review or provide technical assistance,” one White House official said in a statement.

Johnson was dismissive of that pushback: “I’ve talked to the White House. We’ll get it all straightened out,” he said Friday.

“We’re focused on producing a housing bill that meets all the objectives,” Johnson continued. “It’ll be bipartisan, bicameral. It’s great for the American people. So, sometimes the process is messy, but we’ll get there.”

Asked if he was still planning to put the bill on the floor next week, Johnson said he was going to discuss “timing” with his leadership team “this morning.” House GOP leaders want to bring the bill up through a fast-track process next Wednesday where a two-thirds majority of those present and voting are needed to secure passage.

President Donald Trump met with Senate Republicans at the White House Monday to discuss cross-chamber disagreements over the housing affordability legislation. During that meeting, Trump called Johnson and put him on speaker phone as the senators present pushed for the House to simply pass their version of the bill and clear it for the president’s signature.

Trump also pressed the speaker and others to move the bill quickly, the speaker agreed, with both Johnson and the senators concluding the meeting with a sense that each of their divergent plans had been validated, according to three people with knowledge of the conversation.

“While I was there, [Trump] spoke with the speaker and the speaker said he would try to get the bill moving. And that’s where we are,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who was part of the group who met with Trump earlier this week.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Congress

Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

Published

8 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.

McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.

The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.”

Blue Light News has not independently verified the dispatch call.

The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

Congress

House Ethics says it doesn’t have information to share on lawmaker sexual misconduct settlements

Published

16 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House adopted a resolution Tuesday requiring the House Ethics Committee to release information on taxpayer funds used to pay out sexual misconduct settlements with lawmakers — but the committee now says it has no information it can share.

In a statement Thursday, the committee reiterated it does not manage sexual harassment lawsuits or their settlements; taxpayers have not footed the bill for those payments since 2018.

Since that time, according to the statement, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member.”

Instead, the bipartisan Ethics Committee said it was up to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of each member who has received settlements for sexual misconduct allegations, as mandated by the resolution championed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

The committee, in the Thursday statement, said it “fully supports the release of information about sexual misconduct settlements and calls on OCWR to abide by [the resolution] and make publicly available information about Member sexual misconduct matters resulting in payment of taxpayer funds.”

Massie, in a text message Thursday, said “OCWR can release it.”

The OCWR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Ethics Committee has been under pressure in recent months to show it takes allegations of sexual misconduct against colleagues seriously. Two former House members — Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — were forced to resign earlier this year amid serious accusations against them.

The renewed reckoning has prompted new questions about whether the House is up to the task of policing its own. The resolution earlier this week was adopted nearly unanimously, with just one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voting “present.”

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said in an interview earlier this week that while he would support Massie’s resolution, the relevant “information was already out in the public domain.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

AOC endorses El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Published

18 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign for Michigan’s open Senate seat on Thursday, a decision that comes as progressives look to capitalize off a series of recent high-profile primary victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere.

Her endorsement could provide El-Sayed with a critical boost just over a month before the state’s Aug. 4 primary. The former public health official is locked in a heated contest against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the right to take on Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.

It also comes as El-Sayed has risen to the top of the pack in recent public polling.

Virtually any Democratic path to flipping the Senate in this year’s midterms would see the party hold the open Michigan Senate seat, with two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) retiring at the end of his term.

The race has emerged as perhaps the largest battleground over the ideological future of the party. El-Sayed, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, has collected endorsements from progressives, while Stevens has the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with AIPAC also boosting her candidacy.

El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The New York Times, is her party’s best chance.

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” she said. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”