Congress

Johnson preps to punt government funding through midterms

Published

1 hour ago

July 16, 2026

Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he plans to hold a House vote next on a stopgap spending measure, one that would likely fund the government through the November midterm elections.

The move is an opening bid in what could become a contentious partisan fight ahead of the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30. Johnson has been privately trying to convince President Donald Trump to back the stopgap in a bid to provoke a confrontation with Democrats, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Democrats spurred a record-long governmentwide shutdown last fall and an even longer shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security this spring. Republican believe another shutdown fight could work to their benefit ahead of the midterms, the people said.

But Republicans face internal complications passing any funding bill. Many GOP lawmakers are demanding any must-pass bill that emerges from the House needs to also include the SAVE America Act, the Republican elections bill that has languished in the Senate for months, and leaders have yet to decide what to do.

Johnson declined to comment on whether the elections measure would be attached to the spending punt, which would complicate its path in the Senate.

“Well, we haven’t decided all that yet,” Johnson said in an interview. “The SAVE America Act is the No. 1 priority for us, and we’re going to attach it to everything that makes sense. So we’ll have to see.”

While Democrats have refused to support previous GOP-written stopgap bills during President Donald Trump’s second term, it’s not obvious the party would roundly reject a clean extension of current funding.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a senior appropriator who is expected to become the No. 2 party leader next Congress, said it made sense to punt funding till after the election.

“This is around the time of year where everyone realizes we’re not going to get our appropriations bill by the end of the federal fiscal year end, so I think we should do the adult thing, which is to punt into the lame duck,” he said. “That is very standard, and we should just get it done in a businesslike fashion.”

Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.

Congress

Gillibrand and Boozman roll out new bipartisan paid leave bill

Published

42 minutes ago

July 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A bipartisan Senate duo is introducing a new paid leave bill this week — another step in a years-long effort to draft compromise legislation guaranteeing people won’t lose paychecks if they need to take an extended absence from work.

The measure from Democratic Sen. Kristen Gillibrand of New York and Republican Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas — shared first with Blue Light News — would establish a pilot grant program allowing states to provide at least six weeks of leave for family, medical or caregiving reasons. It also would also set up an interstate working group to coordinate and harmonize benefits across participating states.

A similar bipartisan effort is underway in the House from Reps. Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), though the Senate proposal would in some areas go farther. For instance, the Gillibrand-Boozman bill would extend paid leave opportunities to foster parents and remove requirements in the House bill that might limit the pilot program’s reach.

It would also direct the labor secretary to prioritize states for pilot program grants that do not have existing paid leave programs.

“No American should have to choose between earning a paycheck and caring for a new baby, a sick parent, or their own health,” Gillibrand said in a statement, describing her bill as “a commonsense, bipartisan step toward solving a challenge facing millions of hardworking families.”

She added the “robust” programs would “help protect Americans’ financial security and allow them the flexibility to deal with life’s emergencies without sacrificing their income.”

Congress

Todd Blanche’s chances of becoming attorney general could hinge on John Cornyn

Published

15 hours ago

July 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Todd Blanche repeatedly told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” he helped launch as acting attorney general was now, in fact, “dead.” But one Republican on the panel isn’t sold.

At his confirmation hearing to lead the Justice Department permanently, Todd Blanche had to convince Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas — two GOP senators the president undermined in their election bids — that they no longer had to worry about the fund. Critics in both parties feared was intended to pad the pockets of President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Assuming all Democrats vote in unison against confirming Blanche in committee, a single Republican “no” on the Judiciary panel would be fatal to Blanche’s chances of getting to the floor. Tillis and Cornyn, who are both leaving Congress at the end of the year, have left the door open to defecting.

Tillis, who retired after Trump attacked him over policy disagreements, wouldn’t promise he would vote for Blanche. But he walked away Wednesday saying Blanche did “a good job” and expressed confidence he might be able to persuade his colleagues to approve a measure declaring the fund “legally moot.”

Cornyn is a different matter. Having lost his reelection bid after Trump endorsed his GOP primary challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, over him, the senator now seems ready to make life difficult for Trump. And Wednesday, Cornyn made clear that he truly was undecided on Blanche and wasn’t in any huge rush to make up his mind.

“I don’t have to make a decision until the vote is called, so I’m not ready to make the decision now,” he told reporters following the hearing.

A former state supreme court judge and attorney general, Cornyn added that no one has been pressing him to support Blanche at this time: “I feel no pressure,” he insisted.

But in keeping his cards close to his vest, Cornyn is exposing himself to enormous scrutiny between now and July 30 — the earliest the Judiciary Committee is likely to convene a vote on Blanche if Democrats insist delaying consideration. Senate GOP leaders want to confirm Blanche on the floor the first week of August before they leave for the month-long recess — and as one of the two swing votes on the panel, Cornyn is now without question the biggest question mark.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was confident that committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had the situation under control.

“I gotta believe that Grassley and team whipped the vote beforehand and thought, ‘we’re in good shape on this.’ They can’t lose a single Republican vote,” Hawley said.

Grassley expressed confidence Blanche will be confirmed before the Senate leaves town in August.

“I expect that … what it takes to satisfy a couple members [in] the Republican Party will be satisfied, and he’ll be confirmed probably the last week before we go on August recess,” Grassley said.

Blanche was on Capitol Hill on the eve of his confirmation hearing having last-minute meetings with lawmakers of both parties, and he could come back again to meet with Cornyn or any other holdouts in the coming days and weeks. A Justice Department spokesperson did not return a request for comment about Blanche’s plans, however.

A White House spokesperson, asked if the administration would dispatch a lobbying effort to ensure Cornyn votes “yes,” referred back to a Truth Social post from Trump saying that “Every Republican Senator should vote to CONFIRM Todd Blanche, ASAP!”

It’s not clear, in any event, that a White House charm offensive or arm-twisting campaign would work on Cornyn. Besides any lingering anger over Trump’s endorsement of Paxton, Cornyn is ultimately stuck on Blanche’s response to his line of questioning during the hearing about the “anti-weaponization fund” which emerged from a settlement the Justice Department facilitated in response to Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit for leaking his tax information.

While Blanche has backed down from going ahead with setting up the fund amid bipartisan backlash, Cornyn was unsatisfied by Blanche’s answer to the question of whether that settlement will remain an “enforceable contract.”

If the contract remains enforceable, it could allow Trump to sue for a breach of that contract — keeping alive the possibility that both the anti-weaponization fund and the component of the settlement that would shield Trump, his family and their business interests from past IRS audit scrutiny.

Blanche conceded that it was.

“These settlement agreements are contracts, and so he can’t just say, ‘Well, it’s gone away,’ because the parties, notably President Trump … could bring a lawsuit to enforce it, and [Blanche] said, ‘yeah, that’s right,’” Cornyn said after the hearing.

“Part of what I wanted to do is make sure that we understood what the lay of the land was with regard to the weaponization fund — and it’s not dead. It could be revived,” Cornyn said separately Wednesday, “and I think he confirmed that.”

Democrats are putting their own pressure on Republicans to oppose Blanche, in committee and on the floor. On Thursday, they’ll host an Epstein victim whose identity was mistakenly exposed as part of the release of the Epstein files Blanche oversaw as deputy attorney general, and an ousted DOJ pardon attorney, as part of the outside witness panel coming before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on Blanche’s record.

At a press conference after the hearing, Senate Judiciary Democrats wouldn’t predict whether any Republicans would end up voting against Blanche — though several of them mentioned Cornyn’s line of inquiry as a pivotal moment in the proceedings.

“I think the questioning by Sen. Cornyn really got to the heart of the issue when it came to Blanche signing that forgiveness of tax liability for the president and his family,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

“It’s an outrage,” he said. “There’s nothing like that in history. Perhaps some Republicans will be convinced.”

Kelsey Brugger, Alex Gangitano and Erica Orden contributed to this report.

Congress

Dems churn through cash ahead of tense Michigan Senate primary

Published

15 hours ago

July 16, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats duking it out in Michigan’s contentious Senate primary are burning through cash ahead of the August contest — leaving the likely GOP nominee with a sizable cash on hand advantage as the general election nears.

Abdul El-Sayed led the field in fundraising, raking in nearly $4.6 million in the second quarter. The progressive spent nearly $4.4 million and entered July with $2.7 million in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission reports filed Wednesday.

His rival for the Democratic nomination, moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, raised nearly $2.1 million. She spent nearly as much as she hauled in and had $3.4 million in cash on hand to start the month.

Meanwhile, former Rep. Mike Rogers, who is a lock for the Republican nod, ended the second quarter with nearly $5.7 million stashed in his campaign coffers to unload against his eventual Democratic opponent. He raised nearly $2.9 million and spent just $1.4 million.

Battleground Michigan is one of the most critical contests on the Senate map. Republicans are eager to flip retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters’ seat. But Democrats need to hold it as they face an uphill battle to try to retake control of the chamber.

The Democratic Party is also looking to parse the results of their bitter and messy primary, which whittled to a classic progressive-versus-moderate clash earlier this month, for clues as to its direction in the midterms and beyond.

Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who exited the race earlier this month after failing to get enough traction in the polls, raised nearly $2.7 million, spent $4.2 million and had $2.1 million left in the bank. She has not thrown her support behind Stevens or El-Sayed ahead of the primary, but said she would back the eventual Democratic nominee.