Congress
Johnson takes hands-off approach to picking his policy leaders
Speaker Mike Johnson is taking a hands off approach as he finally puts his stamp on the House Republicans who will shape his conference’s policy ambitions — a break from his predecessors that has some lawmakers struggling to intuit his preferences.
On Thursday, the Republican Steering Committee finished selecting committee chairs for next year, minus the few who Johnson gets to pick unilaterally. It was his first time driving the selection process for panel leaders, which involves the Steering panel recommending chairs who are typically approved by a full conference vote. His allies have privately kvetched over the past year that he was being forced to operate in a Kevin McCarthy-organized House.
Unlike McCarthy, Johnson did not indicate who he would back to lead the panels ahead of time, pledging that he would stay neutral.
“[With] McCarthy you had a pretty good idea of where he was going and who he liked in the race, and I think maybe some people expected this speaker to do the same,” said Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), a member of the Steering Committee. “People are inferring things — that he’s tipping the scale — but Mike’s been very straightforward.”
Lawmakers still tried to read into Johnson’s actions and defer to the speaker. That was particularly true during Rep. Brian Mast’s (R-Fla.) presentation to lead the Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, when he won an upset victory over Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), according to two people in the room at the time.
A series of rumors flurried about how Mast won, including false claims that Donald Trump was calling every Steering member to lobby for him, though nearly a dozen lawmakers on the committee said they had not heard from the president-elect. Some lawmakers claimed the Florida delegation lobbied hard for him, saying no one from their state would win a gavel otherwise (multiple Sunshine State lawmakers are headed for prominent spots in the Trump administration). Others said Mast’s presentation was so strong it swayed Steering members to his side.
And some claimed the reason was simpler: Johnson made an offhand remark that hinted he was backing Mast. So a race between four competitors was decided quickly, on the first round of ballots, according to three people familiar with the meeting, granted anonymity to share private details.
Then there was the case of Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) seeking a waiver to continue leading the Transportation Committee, House Republicans had several theories as to why Steering granted a request they typically deny. Some believed Graves would resign if he didn’t get the waiver, potentially crippling Republicans’ ability to pass ambitious legislative priorities in the early months of next year. Others thought he received support from other chairs on the panel who may want a waiver for themselves down the line.
But some people familiar with the Steering meeting noted that Johnson made an innocuous comment that might’ve tipped the scales in that case, too. The speaker said something like: it seemed they were all in agreement and asked to move forward with a voice vote. No one wanted to vote against him — at least not openly.
The ultimate outcome of the contested chair elections was largely a mixed bag for different factions of the conference. Mast is an ardent Trump supporter, who already has strong existing relationships with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who Trump intends to nominate to be secretary of State; Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), who will be Trump’s national security adviser; and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who oversees State Department funding on the Appropriations Committee.
Then there’s Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), who was selected to lead the Energy and Commerce Committee, an amiable Kentucky Republican who’s known as a team player and avid fundraiser. Two Steering members said it just came down to Guthrie running a stronger race. And Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), who secured the Financial Services gavel, was once an ardent McCarthy ally who notably voted “present” during an internal roll call vote when Johnson ran for speaker.
Some members of the panel said Johnson’s hands-off approach coupled with the influx of new Steering members — roughly a third of the panel’s membership is new — made for a true meritocracy this time around.
“What I’m sensing in there: You’ve got a new Steering Committee. They are not held to the old ideas and rules. … You haven’t sensed the speaker having his thumb on the scale. I’m sure he has his preferences, but I don’t see that he has communicated that. And I think it’s a meritocracy at this point,” said Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), a member of the panel.
NEW YORK — With just five days to go until the primary election in New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a stark warning to members of Congress who believe “incumbency is a substitute for action”: Watch out.
“People often ask me what I think of the state of the Democratic Party,” Mamdani said to the crowd at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn as he boosted his endorsed congressional candidates. “This slate here today is our answer. The Democratic Party must change.”
The democratic socialist framed Tuesday’s election as much more than what that means for New York, though. In recounting how people also ask him about the 2028 presidential election, he put it bluntly: “It starts now. It starts on Tuesday.”
“For far too long, our party has seen its job as managing decline instead of delivering material change for working people,” Mamdani said. “That old way of thinking will lose on Tuesday. And frankly, it will lose in South Carolina and New Hampshire. It will fall short of 270 electoral votes, because the party of the past will not be what leads us into the future.”
Mamdani, joined by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, urged his supporters to show up for his endorsed candidates “the way you showed up for me.” They include former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who’s challenging two-term Rep. Dan Goldman; state Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who’s vying for retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat; and community organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier, who’s trying to unseat five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Mamdani’s endorsed slate of legislative candidates were at the rally, too.
The rally featured standard stump speeches from the candidates, highlighting the need to support working class New Yorkers and immigrants. Speakers called out the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel group that has loomed over many of these primaries — despite no evident spending from its independent expenditure arm. Sanders also emphasized his call to ban super PACs, which have reshaped primaries across the city.
Taking place just hours after the massive ticker-tape parade celebrating the Knicks’ historic championship, there were also Knicks references galore.
“I hate to break it to you, but OG Anunoby is not here to save the day,” said Mamdani, who was wearing a Knicks jersey under his suit. “The only hands we can count on are ours.”
Sanders, who is wildly popular in New York, previously endorsed Valdez and Lander. Both Valdez and Avila Chevalier are members of the Democratic Socialists of America and are backed by the city chapter in their bids. Sanders had not officially endorsed Avila Chevalier prior to the rally.
“Why are progressives and socialist candidates winning elections all across this country?” Sanders asked. “The answer in my view is not complicated. The working class of America understands that our current economic system is rigged, that it is designed to benefit the wealthy and the powerful.”
Polling has shown Lander with a lead over Goldman, and a tight race for Velázquez’s seat. Public polling is scarce in the Espaillat race, but recent internal surveys suggest Avila Chevalier is posing a real challenge to the incumbent. Mamdani endorsed her just weeks ago, much later than Lander and Valdez, but his engagement in the race has significantly elevated its profile.
“Six months ago, they told us this race was over before it started,” Avila Chevalier said at the rally. “They told us Adriano was untouchable, that he was an institution, that you don’t run against someone like him and win. That this district was his, and that we should wait our turn. And they said it with such confidence, like the outcome had already been written. Look around. Look at what we’ve built.”
Mamdani’s decision to get involved in congressional races is stress-testing how the new mayor navigates relations with powerful, well-respected party figures — many of whom he’s on the opposite side of.
Mamdani’s endorsement is expected to be a significant asset for his picks; he had dominant performances across these districts in last year’s mayoral primary. And that shine doesn’t seem to have dulled. Recent polling has shown that Mamdani has high approval ratings.
Goldman did not support Mamdani during last year’s mayoral primary or the general election, as Lander has often pointed out. Espaillat backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary, but supported Mamdani in the general election. Valdez’s opponents, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and city Council Member Julie Won, both supported Mamdani in the primary.
The mayor has been active on the trail for his congressional candidates of choice in the closing stretch of the campaign. And he touted them all in an advertisement that ran during the first game of the Knicks’ finals run.
Still, Lander has tried to keep some distance. When asked at a recent press conference why he would appear in that ad with Avila Chevalier, who attended a pro-Palestinian rally the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in 2023 — the same rally Lander said he left the DSA over — he said it was an “opportunity to show New Yorkers that politics can be a team sport.” He also clarified that he has not endorsed candidates in any other congressional primaries.
Avila Chevalier told reporters that she went to that rally to “stand against” Israel engaging in “a response that is often disproportionate and creates a greater loss of life.” She added that she has “condemned Hamas” and does “not believe that celebrating the loss of anybody’s life is OK.”
Kings Theatre isn’t located in any of the districts these congressional hopefuls are trying to represent — though it neighbors the seats that Lander and Valdez have their eyes on.
It’s especially far from Espaillat’s district, which includes parts of upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
While handing out campaign literature to people walking out of the subway in Hamilton Heights, Blue Light News asked Espaillat if he had thoughts about Avila Chevalier appearing at the rally.
“I’m rallying right here in my district with my constituents — not in Brooklyn,” he replied.
Jason Beeferman contributed to this report.
Retirement groups are calling on Congress to investigate Meta over a wave of social media scams targeting older Americans.
In a letter sent Thursday to House Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the groups alleged Meta has been slow to take down fraudulent ads, leaving seniors vulnerable to financial loss. The letter, shared exclusively with POLITICO, was signed by the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Postal Workers Union Retirees and the American Federation of Teachers, among others.
“Fraudulent Medicare ads have proliferated on Meta platforms and too many seniors are getting scammed while Meta profits,” said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. “We are calling on Congress to investigate how these scams are allowed to spread, what Meta knew about them, and why stronger protections are not in place. Seniors should not be left vulnerable while scammers and tech companies cash in.”
The letter’s demands follow a report published last month by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit advocacy group, which alleged that Meta has profited by leaving up fraudulent ads, many of which target Medicare recipients.
“Scammers are determined criminals who use increasingly sophisticated tactics to defraud people and evade detection,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. “We aggressively fight scams on and off our platforms because they’re not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services and for years we’ve been one of law enforcement’s strongest partners in the fight against this type of online crime — identifying criminals, disrupting their crimes and helping bring them to justice.”
Stone pointed to several examples of Meta’s efforts to combat scams on its platform, including a recent collaboration with U.S. and Thai law enforcement to disrupt online scams.
It’s not the first time Meta has faced scrutiny over the scams: Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) urged the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities Exchange Commission to open an investigation into the company in November after Reuters reported that Meta in internal documents projected 10 percent of its 2024 revenue would come from fraudulent ads. And in February, a group of bipartisan lawmakers pressed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over its plans to prevent and combat fraud on its platforms.
Reps. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.) also introduced bipartisan legislation earlier this year to combat predatory scam ads.
Congress is expected to send a landmark, bipartisan housing affordability bill to President Donald Trump’s desk by the end of next week as the Senate and House schedule action on the legislation in the coming days.
The Senate has teed up the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act for final passage on Monday, after completing all its necessary procedural votes this week.
The legislation will then move on to the House where GOP leadership plans to open debate on Wednesday, with a vote expected as early as the same day, according to six people familiar with the vote granted anonymity to discuss plans.
House leadership plans to suspend the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote, to speed up the bill’s path to Trump’s desk. Final passage could be pushed to Thursday depending on timing, the people said.
The housing bill aims to tackle housing affordability and boost homeownership and supply ahead of a midterm election dominated by cost-of-living concerns.
The four lawmakers leading the negotiations over the legislation — Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.), ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) — came to an agreement Tuesday afternoon after months of back and forth on the bill’s contents.
The housing affordability legislation, which the White House supports, contains a provision limiting the role of large institutional investors in the single-family housing market, which was a key condition for Trump to sign the bill.
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